In Bestia
by Anonymousdear
Summary: A war is waging in a time when one's blood status is paramount, who you are determines survival. Little do they know that being one of the Sacred-Twenty Eight doesn't equal purity. Diana Trivinere, the only heir to her ancient house, struggles to find her place in an uncertain future. To top it off its OWL year and the Marauders are recruiting.
1. Chapter 1

It was snowing. She could feel it settle onto her skin as it fell, quickly melting after a few seconds, as she waited outside the Evans' home in Cokeworth. Snow in September. It wasn't entirely unusual in the midlands of England, let alone in Ireland where her mother's home was. Stranger things had happened.

She reached up to catch a snowflake, her pale wrist chilly against the light wind. Lily always joked that she would disappear in the snow if she ventured in completely as she was so white.

"Ana", a voice called out behind, "are you sure you've got everything?"

"Yes, Mrs Evans", she called back.

Lily joined her outside, dragging her trunk behind her. She placed it next to Diana's and hopped on top of it.

"Yeah, we're not going to have the same as last year when halfway to London you decided to remember you had forgotten everything, save Jasper", Lily pointedly said, followed by a laugh.

As if on cue, a happy chirrup sounded from within her jacket and a furry black head peeped out from where it clung inside. Jasper was a black flying-fox, a birthday gift given in her first year of Hogwarts. She remembered unwrapping a green foiled box on her birthday and finding much to her own and every other child's on her table surprise, a wee black bat, no bigger than her palm, snuggled warmly inside. 5 years later, Jasper was now much bigger, though still relatively small; enough to fit inside her robes should he need to. He was an absolute beauty, though receiving letters was murder.

Diana laughed out loud, followed by an "I promise" and fed Jasper a grape from her pocket. He squeaked loudly as a snowflake settled on his nose and retreated back inside the warmth of her coat.

"What do you think for this year, Ana?" Lily came and sat on Diana's trunk, flinging an arm round her neck. "Do you think you'll finally crack and say yes to Barnaby Abbot when he asks you to a Slug Club dinner party for the possibly the hundredth time in two years?"

"Ha! You wish", Diana hugged her friend back, "And me? What about you?" She got up dramatically and took Lily's hand. "Do you think you'll choose between the two greatest loves of your life: Mr Severus Snape or…the great James Potter?", she pretended to swoon.

Lily snatched her hand back, nearly going as red as her hair, "Get lost! I would never-", she began but Diana cut her off with a cackle.

"I think the lady doth protest too much", She retorted and smirked at her friends discomfort. Lily rolled her eyes, her skin slowly returning to it's normal colour and a smile tempting her lips.

"Oh look at you! A muggle reference!" Lily noted, her mouth giving way to a smile at the sight of Ana's broad grin.

"I even used it in the right context this time!", Diana's responded proudly. This was true. The last time she had used it was in a particularly tense encounter with Lily's sister last year - needless to say, Diana was banned from Petunia's presence for the rest of the holidays.

Diana packed away Jasper into his little white cage, popping in another grape and draping a silk square over the top to act as a curtain. Lily's smile suddenly faltered, "Ana", she said uncertainly. Her friend looked up her, curious at the sudden change of tone.

"You wouldn't mind laying off the Severus jokes, would you?", she continued, "it's just our friendship has been a bit strained recently and paired with that sod Potter, I just don't want to make it any worse". Lily looked down at her hands; Diana knew Lily had been friends with Severus for such a long time, even before Lily had met her and they both had always written to each other over the summers and said hello in the halls, even studying together from time to time. However she also knew that recently Lily couldn't help but feel that a rift was slowly making a home between herself and the Slytherin.

"Of course Lils", Diana replied, blonde eyebrows crossed. Her friend smiled back gratefully at her.

"Right girlies", the flowery voice of Mrs Evans sounded from behind them, "I think we'd better be off". Both girls followed the red-headed woman, dragging their trunks behind them.

The boarding of the train was awkward. Mrs Evans had asked as she did most years if Diana's mother would be joining them on the platform to wave them off. Of course the answer was the same as it was each time - no. Even so, Mrs Evans insisted they wait a little longer which led to an awkward shuffling of feet and looking anywhere other than each other until she had decided they had waited long enough and she had given both girls a kiss before settling them on the train. As the train pulled away she saw them off with a loud, "Have a good time girlies! Learn something magical!".

Diana and Lily were sat in a carriage with the usual cohort - Marlene McKinnon and Alice Prewett. All 3 were chatting about their holidays while Diana sat with her forehead pressed against the window, watching the countryside float by.

Suddenly a disgusted groan disrupted the conversation as Alice threw down the Daily Prophet she had been reading, "Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black got married yesterday", she stuck out her tongue in revulsion.

Marlene scooped up the discarded paper and began reading aloud, "_After an extravagant ceremony, sparing no expense, the happy newlyweds encouraged guests to apparate to the Malfoy Mansion to share their happy day togeth- _What utter tosh!". She chucked the paper to Lily.

"Obviously it was a pureblood only guest list", Lily carried on reading. Her face turned from mild irritation to downright disgust, "And of course the story comes before one about an unprovoked attack on a poor muggle family. Typical!".

Diana felt the paper land on her lap. She opened it up, looking down at the front page - the moving faces of the smiling Malfoy's enlarged above a small, still photo of a muggle man and woman with three smiling children. She traced their faces with her fingertip. Those poor people. More and more muggle faces seemed to be appearing in tiny tiny columns of the Daily Prophet, but appearing none the less. It seemed there was a serial attacker on the loose and Diana would bet her wand it had something with pureblood supremacy.

"Are you alright, Ana?", Lily asked quietly, shifting further down the seats so she was directly opposite her. "I'm sorry about what my mum said earlier, I've really asked her to stop mentioning it".

Diana's head whipped up quickly towards where Marlene and Alice sat, hoping they hadn't heard the exchange. They hadn't, to Diana's happiness they were chatting away animatedly about how vile Lucius Malfoy was, off in their own world.

"It's not her fault, Lils", Diana responded honestly, "I know she means well by it". As much as she meant what she said about Mrs Evans, she did wish that the mother would just give it a rest about Diana's own. It was well known to everyone that Diana's mother had barely left the house since Diana was 11 years old, so she wasn't just going to spoil 5 years of hiding to see her daughter off to Hogwarts in her 5th year.

Lily grimaced. "How is she? I know you went to see her one day in August. Was there any improvement at all?", she asked. Lily was gentle with her questioning; there were not many things that Diana didn't talk to her about but her mother was definitely a soft subject.

"Just to check on her. There was no change", Diana responded bluntly, "not that I was expecting any". She didn't feel the need to elaborate on the incoherent shrieking and babbling that greeted her when she visited that day. Camilla Trivinere was determined clinically unsound a long time ago and as the years wore on she became worse and worse until all progress, good or bad, stopped altogether and Diana gave up all hope of having a mother. Enough was enough and when she was 13 she had moved out completely, alternating between living at Lily's and a family friends. She couldn't completely abandon her mother though, she still loved her after all, so once every few months she returned home to Ireland to visit her but she never stayed for more than a few hours. She couldn't bare her mother's silence.

"We should get changed into our robes", Lily suggested, placing her hand on top of her friends. That was as far as Lily would go in expressing her sympathy for Diana and she was glad of it - she didn't want other people's pity and she wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. She was also grateful for the excuse to move about about the carriage.

"Diana!", Marlene exclaimed when all 4 girls were dressed in their robes.

"Marlene!", Diana exclaimed back sarcastically, a silver eyebrow arched and a smile on her face.

"Do you have something awful on your mind you need to share?", the petit blonde placed her hands on her hips, trying to mimic Diana's arched eyebrow and failing miserably, giving up with a huff when Diana laughed.

"I'm here with you Mar, how could I?", Diana responded, making a kiss face towards her. She reached out towards her mate, tripping over feet in the small carriage. All the girls laughed.

"Well to start, you completely missed the food cart", Marlene giggled, pointing out of the carriage doors to the retreating frame of the lovely trolley lady.

"_Merlin"_, was all Diana shouted before she hightailed it towards the cart, leaving her friends laughing behind her. Maybe Marlene was right, maybe there was something on her mind. She never missed the sweet cart, always greeting the old lady she had befriended through her sugar addiction, whose name was Magda, at the door of her carriage before it arrived there. She was nearly at the cart, she could almost smell the chocolate frogs as she raced past a carriage full of Slytherins, who all shot her dirty looks.

She reached into her pocket, she was prepared, when suddenly she felt a hard object force her backwards, knocking her with a thud on her backside, the contents of her pockets flying.

Grapes and sickles littered the corridor as she watched with sadness the still retreating sweet cart. Her line of vision was disrupted when a shaggy head of hair moved from the floor in front of her, groaning - this was presumably the obnoxiously inconsiderate object that had deprived her of a pumpkin pasty. She looked upwards, seeing the form of Remus Lupin looking sheepishly down at her, apologetic already. The Marauders. She should have known their pratting about had something to do with this.

She was about to spit out a retort about what happens to annoying little boys who catch a particularly bad hiccuping hex when the shaggy head of hair started speaking.

"So this is why you always smell of grapes", the head said, while holding up a small green grape from his position on the floor, grey eyes looking directly at her.

**All characters apart from my OC belong to J.K. Rowling **

**AN: Thank you for reading, this is my first story so let me know if there are any grammatical or spelling mistakes and if there is anything that needs explaining. Enjoy x **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

She had said nothing. Instead opting to glare in what she hoped was a ferocious way, get up and stomp off back to her compartment. Her friends gave her a questioning look when she returned without a single chocolate frog in sight but all she did was shrug and mutter, "Marauders".

The girls all nodded understandingly and Lily scrunched up her nose, retorting, "You'd think those idiots would have matured by now, it's O. year for god sake".

That was all that was said about the matter and by the time they had arrived at Hogwarts, her friends had managed to coax Diana out of her lack of food induced sulking.

Now, Diana sat at her place in the grand hall at the Gryffindor table, smoothly ignoring the Sorting that was taking place at the front of the hall as well as the sheepish looks repeatedly flicking her way a few spaces down the table where the Marauders sat. Instead she watched the group of Slytherins a few tables in front of her, some short 5th years providing the perfect view over the tops of their heads.

She knew how easy it could be for her to be there now, she remembered Professor Slughorn's, as well as her Slytherin classmates', disappointment when she was Sorted into Gryffindor, House of the Brave. Emory Mulciber had tried to befriend her as they sat in the little welcome boats that would take them to the entrance of Hogwarts, claiming she looked like his sort of person. They had slowly been joined by other Slytherins, who having heard of her family name believed she had more cunning than courage and decided she belonged with them. She had proved them wrong and how they hated her for it in return.

She watched them smirk around at each other, faces contorting into disgust when their eyes came upon a half-blood or muggle-born witch, or really anyone they disliked. She wondered which one of their parents had tormented that poor muggle family, whether they knew about it, if they were impressed or disgusted. Yes, they were all rich and the majority beautiful but she hated them. She hated that she was one of them, though she tried to pretend otherwise. Her family name, Trivinere, wouldn't allow her to forget.

Her observing was cut short when she received a nudge from Alice, realising that the feast had already begun, an event she was always impatiently anticipating. She gave a small smile and shrug as way of explanation in response to her friend's worried glance and dug in.

"Well I met him this summer at one of the Quidditch meets in London, and trust me girls when I say he is gorgeous-", Diana was listening to Marlene natter on about her latest flame, the reason why she had been unable to write to her friends as frequently as would have liked. She zoned out after a while, she could guess the end to the story anyway - midway through this year, the girls would find Marlene face down on her bed, moaning how all men were the same and that she was going celibate, though the most that promise had lasted was 2 weeks. She was a creature of habit when it came to her breakups.

Her eating was interrupted when a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She huffed, ready to spin around and tell the individual who had come between her and her food to bog off but she nearly choked on her mouthful of treacle tart when she saw who it was behind her.

Remus Lupin stood with a tense smile on his face, a crease between his eyebrows as if sensing the danger he was in but with an outstretched hand that contained a circle of silver and orange wrapping.

Diana looked down at it. She knew that wrapping anywhere, she had practically yearned for it on the train. It was a simple Cauldron Cake, presented to her as a peace offering.

"I'm sorry about earlier on the train", Remus cleared his throat and began, "we didn't mean for you to get caught in the crossfire, it's just this prat-" he jabbed a finger down the table towards Sirius, who waved back at them, "is clumsier than Peeves".

She realised she had resumed staring at the cauldron cake like a fool, her mind debating whether it was wise to accept something off of renowned pranksters. But she wanted that cauldron cake. Plus, it was worth noting that Remus was one of the least mischievous and easiest to get along with out of the 4 so it was highly probable that there is nothing wrong with the deliciously sugary snack therefore she should really just go ahead and have it.

With her mind made up and slightly proud how she had so smartly talked herself into it, Diana replaced her dumbfounded staring with a smile. The sight of such a smile caused Remus, who had been standing silently with wide eyes as the white haired girl had stared at his hand like she was going to bite it off, to let out a breath and smile back at her.

"Apology accepted", Diana finally responded as she took the cake from his hand, beginning to tear open the foil.

"So Diana", Remus began, his hand dropping to his side, "How many O. are you taking this year?". It was an innocent enough question, Diana could sense no malice or ill will behind it, but then again she had never had a full conversation with Remus Lupin up until now. Sure they had occasionally acknowledged each other in the halls and as both were keen, skilful learners they often saw each other in the library from time to time but that was the extent to which their interactions went. However, there seemed to be no reason not to answer the question as there was no possible way talking about O. could come back to bite her in the ass.

"10 this year", Diana responded, blushing slightly at Remus' shocked face, rushing to defend herself, "Adventurous I know but Professor McGonagall thought it would be a waste to limit myself to 9". Her academic achievements where something of a bit of an embarrassment for Diana, she never enjoyed the attention that came from it, although most of this attention came in the form of perks. She enjoyed learning, sure but her academic capacity came with its own form of burden so when Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick had cornered her in the Great Hall last year she had accepted their insistence of taking 2 above the rudimentary 9 with a conflicted heart.

"No, no, what electives?", Remus brushed off her defence, clearly excited, "I'm taking 10 myself", receiving an identically excited face from Diana. Lily was the only other Gryffindor she knew who had the opportunity of taking additional classes, a right reserved only to the most capable in the year, but she had turned it down due to her anxiety with balancing all of her duties together. Most of the other students taking 10 were a handful of Ravenclaws, a few Slytherins here and there and she didn't even know about any in Hufflepuff.

"All the usual plus Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes", Diana listed off, expecting a groan at the electives of her choice. She even wanted to groan when she said them out loud. Arithmancy - what was she thinking.

Instead Remus smiled back at her before excitedly sharing, "We'll have Arithmancy and Ancient Runes at least for definite this year then! We could study together for them if you want?", he asked sincerely.

"Honestly, in terms of Arithmancy, I think it will be more you helping me than 'studying'. I don't know how Professor Flitwick got me to agree to take it for a whole year", Diana nervously chuckled, hoping her warnings of ineptness would be enough to ward the boy off without hurting his feelings. It's not that she didn't want to but she was naturally suspicious and prickly by nature. Situations out of the ordinary, especially those in which a boy, no matter how placid, with a reputation of trouble asked to study with her was enough to get her hackles up.

Remus merely laughed, said how he doubted that extremely and that he would see her around before walking off back towards his friends, who by that time had started a food fight with the Slytherin table. Her own friends had watched the interaction with a mix of slight curiosity and downright suspicion.

"What?", Diana asked them, specifically Lily, who was slowly chewing on some chicken while staring at her with narrowed green eyes. She chucked a piece of her cauldron cake at her.

"You've only been talking to one for 5 minutes and you're already participating in their food fight!", Lily accused, her finger pointing out at her but Diana could see small laughter in her eyes.

"No way!", Marlene responded, ducking before she was hit with a plate full of trifle, "They were just bonding over their mutual smarty pant-ness, weren't you Ana?", she reached over to tug on Diana's long blonde ponytail.

Diana dodged away from her laughing, "He only came over to say sorry for knocking me over on the train earlier".

"And to give her a lover's token", Alice began teasing, lifting up a finger to get some filling of a custard tart as it rushed past towards the Ravenclaw table. Diana rolled her eyes as Marlene and Alice began a chorus of 'Remmy-and-Ana-sitting-in-a-tree' and Lily began to sulk; she looked around the room, catching the eyes of a moody, dark teenager who had paused mid-battle to stare back at the mysterious girl sat down from him.

**AN: In terms of the number OWLs Diana and Remus are taking, they are based off of what Harry, Ron and Hermione take in The Prisoner of Azkaban. Ron and Harry take 9 whereas Hermione takes 11 but lowers her study load to 10. Diana wouldn't have any access to a time-turner so I thought 10 would be more realistic.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"_To Miss Trivinere, _

_I am writing to inform you that another attempt to remove your mother from your family home in County Antrim, Northern Ireland by the St Mungos Care Team has once again failed as a result of her great resistance. We are unable to get hold of your current, stated guardian as of yet. For these reasons, every 3 months a mandated amount of 800 galleons will be transferred from the Trivinere family vault to yourself until such a time-"_

Diana scrunched up the Ministry letter, tossing it into fireplace she was laying in front of. It wasn't anything she hadn't heard before and if anything, it merely served to irritate her. Her mother couldn't possibly hold a intelligible conversation with her daughter but she could send a team of highly qualified wizards packing. Ridiculous.

She was glad she had received the letter moments ago, Jasper flying into the common with a single letter clutched in a foot, just after curfew at 8:00pm. She wouldn't have wanted to start off the day in a mood like she would have if Jasper was an owl - he had just settled down to sleep, bless him, when she got up for breakfast.

And what a day it had been. Arithmancy had been just as awful as she thought it would be - Professor Vector had nearly snapped her quill after the 4th time Diana had forgotten to consult her number chart correctly. However the professor, by the end of the hour, did not express any wishes for Diana to reconsider taking her class, instead she put the mistakes down to start of the year nerves, knowing Diana would do as brilliantly as she did last year. Diana wanted nothing more than to correct the professor, letting her know that yes, while she did do well in Year 4 arithmancy she had no idea how that had happened, it being her worst subject, and had put it down purely to luck. Instead Diana nodded uncertainly, noticing Remus Lupin fling a sympathetic smile over his shoulder at her.

Her next 3 classes were a blur, none particularly eventful or interesting as most purely consisted of the welcome back, introductory speech that bored everyone half to death. Some students didn't even bother showing up. By the time 5th period came around, she had already regretted not accepting Remus' offer of studying together as she uncomfortably poured over the Arithmancy homework, feeling entirely helpless. She could see him in the corner of the common room, working through the exercises smoothly - the smart git. Maybe she would have to swallow her pride and ask for help.

Jasper chirruped at her side before taking off again, slipping out of the common room window into the night. She sighed. _Traitor._

"Interesting pet", a voice stated from the sofa's behind her. She sat up with a start, looking around and realising that most people had cleared off to their dormitories. She pulled her book into her lap, turning her body towards the voice.

Sirius Black sat lounging on one of the sofas, his shirt untucked and unbuttoned and his tie loose, robes nowhere in sight. He had been watching her, as creepy as it sounded, or rather he was trying to avoid watching her when he sat annoying Moony an hour ago, but as people went off to bed, leaving the common room empty, he decided now would be the opportune moment to talk to her. She was just lying on top of her robes, in front of the fire place, an open book in front of her and her shirt untucked from her skirt. She had really grown up over the summer.

"Black", Diana acknowledged in a polite, clipped voice.

He smirked. "What's his name?", he asked as he looked directly at her.

"What's whose name?", Diana asked confused, a hand fiddling with the end of a long strand of hair. She had no idea what he was on about, all she was aware of was the fact that she was alone in the common room with Sirius Black, a well known ladies man and best friend of James Potter…and if Lily found out, she would be dead.

He laughed at her, raising an eyebrow. "Your bat", he responded slowly, as if she was thick. She felt the indignation building inside of her.

She stood quickly, gathering her robes and book, answering curtly, "Jasper" before moving towards the stairs leading to the girls dormitories.

"You know I haven't apologised for knocking you on your ass on the train yesterday", he called out to her retreating figure. She turned in time to see him smirk and run a hand through his curly hair. Cue real swoon.

Diana knew, she hadn't forgotten. She was aware that Sirius Black was an arrogant sod who didn't apologise for his actions. She hadn't been waiting for an apology, nor did she expect one but she had definitely not forgotten.

She did not wait for him to say another word, instead she retorted, "Consider your apology accepted" to which he briskly replied "There's nothing to accept, I haven't apologised yet".

She felt the anger beginning to steam in her stomach, biting her lip to avoid making scene. He was taunting her, it would seem. For some unknown reason. She wouldn't allow it, not from a brat such as himself. He was watching her intently, waiting for some sort of reaction but she wouldn't give him it. Instead she straightened up, tilting her head and with a tight lipped smile said, "Are you going to?".

He cocked an eyebrow up at her, still smirking, "What do you think?".

There was a long silence as both stared at one another. Enough. She had had enough of whatever he thought he was doing. She had to get ready for bed still and she had arithmancy again in the morning. She turned on her heel, walking up the stairs, calling down "Goodnight Black".

Sirius remained sitting, staring at the spot which she had occupied before storming up the stairs. He smiled slightly.

"G'night Diana"

/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\\\

_Merlin. _Two weeks in and she already felt like throwing in the towel. That day had started off well enough with some minor setbacks. For example, breakfast every morning was like a competition with Black - who could avoid looking at each other for longest and when the inevitable happened and they both looked at the same time, who would look away first. Honestly, it was exhausting.

Secondly, she had decided she thoroughly disliked potions, despite being a favourite of Professor Slughorns. It wasn't that she brewed potions incorrectly or the subject wasn't interesting, she completed them correctly each time and she found it fascinating. It was just it didn't come naturally to her, severe effort was needed in order for the perfect result. This was unlike Care of Magical Creatures. Interacting with the creatures came so beautifully easy to her it was like breathing and after a tough day of double potions and arithmancy, it was welcomed.

Thirdly, she was drowning in homework. She looked up from the two feet of parchment she was writing on Ancient Runes and looked around the library. She found Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew squashed into a corner just down from her; Peter copying as Remus wrote. She had decided she was going to have to bite the bullet and accept Remus' invitation for studying together - her disastrous performance in arithmancy had gone on too long and Remus was top of the class as far as she knew.

She bit her lip uncertainly, risking a glance at Lily who was studying next to her. She knew Lily wouldn't be pleased with the arrangement with her having extreme reservations on the moral standards and intelligence of the Marauders, but lately Lily had appreciated that Remus was far more mature than that of his cohort. The only thing now was that she felt silly for rejecting his offering in the first place; she had left it dangling for the whole two weeks, never taking him up on his offer.

She glanced at her bag where she knew her arithmancy homework waited for her. _Just do it now for Merlin's sake. _She scooted her chair backwards and stood up. Lily looked up at her questioningly, to which Diana replied with a nod in Remus' direction; Lily narrowed her eyes, looked forward again and then slowly back down at her book. _I'll make it up to her later. _At the moment she was more scared of the arithmic number chart that Professor Vector wanted her to construct than her best friend.

She approached slowly, almost cautiously, pulling on the sleeves of her shirt. She smoothed down her skirt and coughed lightly.

"Remus", she greeted as he looked up from his work. A second pair of eyes looked at her and she rushed to acknowledge the person she had overlooked, "Peter".

Peter blushed and nodded at her, giving a sort of half smile. Remus smiled at her, turning in his seat, "Diana, you alright?".

"Um, yes, how are you?", she responded politely. She fiddled with the button at her shirt cuff, unsure how to re-approach his offer of help.

"I'd be better if I didn't have the ancient runes essay to do. I'm only half way through arithmancy", Remus laughed. Truthfully, he did look like he could be better but Diana didn't think it polite to mention or that it had anything to do with the homework. He looked rather pale, especially with the large dark circles under his eyes and she bet if she touched his hand he'd be clammy. On the up side, he had made it too easy for her to ask for his help.

"Speaking of, I actually was hoping I could take you up on your offer about studying for arithmancy", she asked, rushing quickly to recover herself when she saw Peter's head whip to look at Remus with wide eyes. "It was just you offered at the welcome feast so-".

"Absolutely", he cut her off with a sincere smile. She returned it gratefully. "Arithmancy not treating you well then?", he carried on, eyes still on her. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw Peter open his mouth then suddenly flinch and reach down to rub his shin.

"Is it that obvious from class?", she laughed, glad the tension had been diffused.

"Not at all, although it seems Professor Vector loves spending time in your company", the teasing clear in his voice. It was true. All the professor seemed to do in class was hover over her, watching every stroke of her quill and checking every scrap of working out. It was beginning to get on her nerves.

"She's like an overbearing boyfriend, I want to tell her to lay off", she responded, "or else I'll unfortunately have to break up with arithmancy". Remus laughed at that.

"You'd break her heart", he looked up at the clock. "How about this Thursday? We can walk from Ancient Runes together".

"Sounds perfect", she smiled back at him. That was easier than she thought. They said their goodbyes and Diana returned to her work, leaving a gobsmacked Peter Pettigrew with his mouth open.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Of course the whole school ended up knowing about it. By lunch time the next day everyone was whispering about how Remus and Diana were having secret snogging sessions in the library every day and even meeting up in the broom cupboards after curfew. After the fourth time she had walked through the halls with people staring at her as if she smelt like dragon dung she realised this was why she didn't go out of her way to make new friends. Something Lily kept reminding her of.

By the time Thursday had come around to meet Remus, she had dealt with more than a few people. When Dirk Creswell, a seventh year, asked if she would show him her knickers in the library too he had found himself in the hospital wing with a bad case of the bat-bogey hex and when Dorcas Meadows had questioned whether Mr Lupin was a good kisser in potions, Diana's had accidentally knocked the whole cauldron over, ruining the poor thing's new robes. Though not to be deterred, when Diana walked into Defence Against the Dark Arts class she had marched straight in, placing herself next to Remus and began taking out her things, head held high in defiance. Remus seemed to find the whole thing entirely entertaining.

She walked into the library with Remus, ready to start their studying and was totally unsurprised to see they had attracted an audience. Actually it seemed to be more of a face off as the Marauder's sat in one end of the library and her own group of friends had gathered at the opposite side, glaring at one another. The library was packed anyhow, mostly full of sixth years studying for their NEWTs but a few stragglers had turned up to see if anything interesting would happen, although they kept mainly around the sides. That left one place for Remus and Diana, a lovely vacant table. Right in the middle of everyone.

"I didn't realise we were so popular", Remus attempted to diffuse the tension. Diana was wholly unimpressed, although the sight of everyone trying to pretend they were minding their own business would of been funny despite the circumstances.

"I'm determined to ignore them", she replied, arms crossed over her chest defiantly. She was determined to pass arithmancy too and she wasn't going to let some immature little boys, who were peeping at them from over the top of a book, get in her way.

She marched over to the free table, glancing at her friends as she did so. Lily was preoccupied in the middle of a staring match with James Potter on the other side of the room but Alice threw her a wink and Marlene offered her a thumbs up with a big grin. She couldn't help grinning back.

/

"Stop looking at them", Remus said for the 40th time in the two hours they had been there. Overall it had been a successful study session, so much so that most of the spectators had gone off, bored with the lack of excitement. Although, she couldn't quite stop herself from alternating between glaring over at a group of Slytherins that had remained and staring back at the Marauders.

"You wouldn't think they had OWLs this year would you", she snorted, "instead they'd much prefer to stare at us and watch to see if we'll suddenly jump on each other and start snogging! Has no one but me realised how profoundly creepy that is?".

Remus titled his pale head slightly, a smirk firmly on his face. "Feel better?", he asked, referring to her outburst. She narrowed her eyes at him and picked her quill back up. "In their defence, my mates are just looking out for me, I don't know what their excuse is", motioning to the Slytherins huddled at a table to their left.

"Probably something utterly foul", she huffed, nose turned up at the group of Slytherins.

"Do you know what else I didn't know?", Remus continued in a loud casual voice but with a mischievous smile that Diana couldn't see, "That the answers to question 42a are written on Timothy Clearwater's forehead".

Diana blushed bright red and nearly toppled off her chair when the boy in question turned to look at them at the sound of his name. Tim Clearwater was one of the sixth year beaters for Ravenclaw and admittedly yes, she had been looking at him. He just so happened to be absolutely dreamy.

"You really are one of them", she hissed at Remus whilst motioning to the Marauders, who were nearly wetting themselves in their seats. Indeed she had questioned slightly why Remus hung around with the Marauders, she had thought he was so different in his maturity and demeanour compared to the rest - but apparently not.

Remus nudged her, "You love me really", he grimaced slightly at a passing stomach cramp. "In fact you love me so much you'll let me read your Charms essay won't you?", he smiled, although it was more of a grimace. She frowned at him - it was unlike him to want to copy work but he had seemed out of sorts lately. Despite them both knowing she would let him, she muttered "Bloody unlikely" before stomping off to return one of the books.

She walked past the giggling Marauders towards the bookcase, her eyes tightening. _Bloody hilarious. _She stood in front of it, instantly regretting her decision of rushing off in a huff - the book she had in her hand was _Arithmancy: A History_ and of course it belonged on the highest shelf. Obviously she was too short. She closed her eyes and let out a breath. _For Merlin's sake. _

She couldn't give up now, not after her dramatic strop. She stood up on her tiptoes, arms outstretched towards the top shelf. She was almost there, maybe she could balance on the edge of the bott-

A pair of hands connected with the middle of her back, shoving her forwards into the bookcase, her elbow connecting with the wood. She yelped, turning around to see her attacker.

"Rosier", she spat out when she saw him, her hand immediately reaching into her cardigan for her wand. The Slytherin's hand darted out, grabbing her wrist with a smirk on his face.

"I don't think so, freak", Diana inwardly cringed, she hadn't been called that since second year. She wrenched her wrist away from the blonde boy, his friends gathering around him.

"Looks like you've moved up from shagging your brothers to filthy blood traitors instead", Rosier smirked down cruelly at her while their friends laughed, "well done Diana". Diana flinched slightly, hating the sound of her name on his lips. She gripped her wand tighter however remaining impassive, her face revealing nothing.

"Well, at least some of us are getting some, from what I've heard no one would touch you with a 10 foot pole", she replied cheekily; Rosier narrowed his eyes, silent. "You're in my way, Rosier", she said cooly, her wand held up in warning.

"In a rush to leave, are we?", Emory Mulciber joined in, "You should be honoured to be seen with us, freak - you might be pureblood but even that stinking Lupin is out of your league what with the filth in your genes". His friends laughed.

How dare they. Her pureblood pride raising its stubborn head - her upbringing may have been unconventional compared to the rest of her peers but being treated as inferior was never something she was raised to be accustomed to and she wasn't going to start now. Old habits die hard. She was about to remind the Slytherins that she had what they valued most - she came from one of the purest wizarding families known to their world and unarguably one of the oldest. She was going to point out that as one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight she warranted respect, even more so than some of the other Slytherin members.

Even as she thought this, the words died on her lips. It wasn't like her to use another's blood status against them, she didn't care if somebody was muggle-born or half-blood, you didn't need to have two wizard parents to be her friend. For Merlin's sake, her best friend was muggle-born. She didn't understand, she hadn't ever felt such scorn towards another or the burning need to talk about her blood status out loud.

"Would you do us all a favour and shut that hole under your nose, Mulciber", Sirius Black drawled in a bored voice as he walked towards the group, his friends in tow, effectively saving her from the effort of replying.

"Awh, be nice Pads", Potter joined in, wand already in hand and hair in it's usual mess. He laughed, "I don't think he can help it, he's naturally a gobby git". Peter nodded in agreement.

"Diana", Mulciber laughed back, "I didn't realise you were shacking up with every blood traitor in Hogwarts". The Slytherins banded closer together, all palming their wands, sneering at the Gryffindors.

"Piss off, Mulciber", Diana replied, gaining confidence from the Marauders assistance. They may not like her, but they definitely disliked the Slytherins more. Sirius looked her at her from the corner of his eyes as she slowly moved round the group of Slytherins that had turned to face the boys, coming to a stop by their side.

"What she does is none of your business", Remus retorted out of nowhere, managing to look fierce in his sick state as he joined his friends. She smiled at the site of him, coming to her rescue in spite of his exhaustion.

"Slither back into your dungeon prats", James continued and Peter gave a "Good one James" in agreement. By this time everyones voices had increased in volume, catching the attention of Madame Pince, who began to make her way over to the group. If the snarl on her face was any indication, she wasn't best pleased with them disrupting the tranquil balance of her library and she was preparing to hand out a butt-whooping. The Slytherins saw her coming first, nudging each other before making a sharp exit with only a last few scathing looks. Rosier lagged a few seconds behind the others, staring intently at Diana; his eyes displayed his message loud and clear - _this isn't over _\- before stalking out. It seemed to pacify Pince, who stopped her ascent towards them, turning around after clicking her tongue in warning.

Diana walked over to where she and Remus had been sitting, gathering her things quickly to avoid letting the boys see her furious blushing. She felt wholly humiliated and slightly manhandled; she had learned to ignore the comments made about her family as it was an unfortunate part of the package that was her life due to her deranged mother but that didn't mean it had to be broadcasted to the whole 5th year. Especially in front of boys such as James Potter and Sirius Black and her new friend, Remus.

She could vaguely hear them arguing as she swung her bag over her shoulder. "Seriously? Slither back into your dungeon?", someone said, to which Potter replied, "Don't you get it? It's because their sigil is a snake and snakes slith-", but the same voice from before cut him off, "I think everyone got it Prongs and we all still can't believe that you decided to say it". There was a peel of laughter, followed by "You wound me, Padfoot". That was all she heard before she took off out of the library.

She knew it was rude of her - the Marauders had come to her defence regardless of whether it was due to their own personal vendetta for anyone in Slytherin house. She also knew she would owe them an apology and she promised she would deliver it at some point but not right now - hey, if Black could shirk his manners for a while then so could she.

She was just passing the girls' bathrooms when she heard someone calling her name. She contemplated attempting to run off and ignore whoever it was but she stopped, letting out a sigh; she would just be more embarrassed tomorrow and she was shocking at running anyway so they would probably outrun her.

Bracing herself, she turned, coming face to face with Sirius Black. He had obviously ran after her, his dark curls in slight disarray and his breath coming a little quicker. She could only imagine the mess she looked like; hair falling out of her high ponytail, face still tinged red from her embarrassment.

"Were you just going to keep walking?", he asked from where he stood in front of her, one dark eyebrow raised. He didn't actually sound accusatory, more curious.

She looked down at the floor, "What do you want, Black?" she mumbled. Again she was being rude but she couldn't help it - she wanted this to be over as quickly as possible. To never revisit it again and pretend it never happened. Why did he have to follow her? Could he not tell she wanted to be alone?

"I just…", he started before clearing his throat. He ran a hand through his hair and huffed, "Here".

His spare hand thrust out towards her; in it was her Remeberall - she must have forgotten it in the library. Ha. Ha.

"Oh", she stared down at it dumbly before her dark eyes flicked back up to him, "Thank you".

He offered her a half smile before clearing his throat and straightening up, his dark locks falling forwards again. There was a few moments of awkward silence between the two before he spoke again.

"Rosier was happy today, used the word freak about ten times ", he spoke out of the blue though earnestly; there was no laughter or sneer in his voice and although she sensed he meant no harm, she still flinched at the names use. Sirius noticed, shifting his feet, "I remember it from before".

She smiled wryly. Yes, 'freak' had basically replaced her first name in second year, mostly used by the Slytherins but eventually the Ravenclaws picked it up and even some Hufflepuffs.

"Take a guess", she responded blankly, it was impossible that he hadn't heard the reason behind it, hadn't heard about her family, but he only reciprocated her blank look and shrugged his shoulders.

She gave huff, "It's about my family, I suppose you've heard about them", she watched his face, "My mother's crazy, so was my grandmother and every other female member of my family as far as I know so they think I am as well, everyone knows it". She decided to leave out the part that some of her own behaviour had added to it, he was probably very aware anyway.

It was true, he knew about it too. The Line of Trivinere were infamous for being purposefully secretive and mysterious but if anything was known about them it was that they still performed the old practice of incest, although that wasn't too out of the usual. His own parents were some form of cousins and most pureblood families were closely related, too close some might say. But the Trivinere family were…different, even for the other pureblood fanatics; most families bordered that line but never really crossed it. He had heard the rumours about them, of relationships between brothers and sisters, secret marriages to first cousins all to keep their line strong. In spite of this their house was a small one and if the stories were true then 'strong' was decidedly not the right word to describe them.

His face had remained impassive, but he felt for her. He remembered when everyone called her 'freak', he wanted to but hadn't purely because she was a Gryffindor; he saw her run into the girls toilets once, when she had found the nickname scrawled across the common room wall, barely holding in the tears. It had all stopped at the beginning of third year though, when McGonagall had made the use of the word and any mention of her mother a punishable offence.

"For what it's worth, Trivinere", Sirius said, not liking the look of defeat in her dark eyes, "I don't think you're crazy". He was pleased to see that her eyes lightened a bit, her shoulders seeming a little less heavy. She offered him a small smile and a whispered thank you before turning away.

"Diana", he called out again. She turned to see his hand outstretched once more, the glass sphere resting in his upturned palm. Red mist spreading through it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

She felt odd. In fact everything was odd. The school felt odd, her friends felt odd, Remus and her dorm felt odd, even the air was odd and she just felt so confused and odd. Diana couldn't put her finger on it - she felt different. She would find herself in her free time wandering towards the dark forest or staring out onto the Black Lake and now more than ever sleep never seemed to keep her well rested. Plus, everyone else's odd behaviour was adding to her thoughts of oddness; James Potter had sat next to her during Transfiguration class, Remus was hiding in the hospital wing, Lily was faffing around her more than usual and Sirius Black seemed to be everywhere she turned. Maybe it was everyone else who was odd and she was the only normal one. It wouldn't be the first time she'd thought it.

Diana stood in her dorm room, doing up her tie in the mirror, her long white hair getting caught in the knot. It had been nearly a week since the library incident and the bruise on her elbow was the only thing left to prove it even happened - it hadn't been discussed by her or the boys, who luckily seemed to understand that it was the last thing she wanted to do and let her be. Although she did tell Lily, she had to if she wanted to survive the year; if Lily had found out Diana hadn't included that little tidbit of information she might as well start spending her summers in the Dark Forest.

She rubbed her elbow as she sat on her bed; she felt a something burst under her weight and wetness trickle down her leg. She froze - _what in Merlin's name…Please tell me I haven't wet myself…_She felt down her leg and plucked up a flattened grape. Thank Merlin it was only a grape. One of Jasper's squashed little grapes. Speaking of, where was he? It was morning so he wouldn't be out.

She checked her wardrobe, behind her bed curtains, all his favourite places. Her bottom was sticking out from under her bed when Marlene came into the room. She smirked at her friends position and cleared her throat before saying in a deep, manly voice, "Koor, what I'd do for a sight like that every morning", leaning against the bedpost.

"If you're extra lucky you just might", Diana replied, her voice flitting out from beneath the bed, not even making a move to get up, "Have you seen Jasper, Mar?".

"No, sorry", Marlene answered back, "though while you're at it, try and find Alice under there, will you?". She disappeared into the bathroom just as Diana's ruffled head appeared into the daylight once again.

"Two words - Frank Longbottom", she said, smoothing down and beginning to braid her hair; if Frank was anywhere, Alice was guaranteed to be 2 steps behind, the girl had an obsession.

"Surprisingly not", Marlene reappeared out of the bathroom, a grey jumper in her hand, "the git himself just let a stink bomb off in the common room, all over my bloody jumper", she chucked said jumper into a corner.

"Breakfast?", she turned to ask Diana.

"Breakfast", she agreed. Jasper would have to wait.

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\\\/

How had she never noticed that she had Potions with Black before. She had been attending classes for nearly 5 weeks now and somehow she had never seen him, slouching at the back of the class with Pettigrew, despite having to pass him to get to the cupboard every time she needed ingredients.

Her potion's partner was Garnet Greengrass, a Slytherin, who for the most part was quite pleasant; they worked together well considering their house rivalries and she didn't appear to share the same vile personality as her brother, Azure, another Slytherin. The two girls didn't really converse much, mostly getting on with their work and asking each other to pass the so and so and stir this but Diana actually missed her when she didn't show up for class. She missed her even more when she realised what this meant for herself. Remus was in the hospital wing and Pettigrew was partnered up with some other Gryffindor…which meant that both she and Black were minus partners and it was only a matter of time before Professor Slughorn would ask him to join her at the front.

She wondered if it was possible for her pull a sickie and go hide in her dormitory until Garnet or Remus returned alive and well again, having not quite recovered from the embarrassment of her little talk with Black. But it was OWLs year and today they were brewing the Calming Draught, something the Professor had hinted might be on their exam at the end of the year. She would have to grin and bare it. She hadn't worked this hard for the past few years to throw the towel in now just because she was being forced into the proximity of an insufferable idiot for one lesson.

As if on cue Sirius strolled over to her desk, flopping himself down onto the chair next to her, a smirk plastered on his face.

"So", he asked her, his elbow resting on the desk as he turned his body to face her, "What are we making today?". His smirked lengthened considerably at the sight of her stiff posture that projected an irritation that would send any normal boy running in the opposite direction. Truth be told he wasn't thrilled to be paired with her either, not with two of his best mates sat comfortably together behind him, but he found the opportunity of annoying her too good to pass up.

"_We _are not making anything", Diana maintained, sorting through the ingredients before her, "It's important I pass this class, so I really don't mind if you just sit back and let me do everything-".

Sirius cut her off with a laugh, "You'd like that, wouldn't you? To do all the work and get all the credit for it so you can brown nose Slughorn some more?", she glared him as he got up from his seat and walked towards the ingredients cupboard, "Calming draught it is".

She visibly ruffled at the insinuation that she was a brown noser. It definitely was not true, in fact she found the jolly professor's praise embarrassing and tried her best to hide from it. She huffed out a breath, catching Potter's grinning face from across the room. She began the potion.

For the most part they worked together quite well in silence, mutually ignoring each other and Diana for a moment genuinely thought a half decent grade was coming their way. That was until her robe sleeve lifted slightly, just above her elbow, revealing the ugly blue bruise planted on it.

"We got him back for that", Sirius suddenly spoke out of the blue while adding the moon dew to the cauldron, not looking up. Diana looked towards him, then flicked her eyes back and forth to her bruise a few times, confused.

Sirius looked towards her at her silence, "Rosier", he explained, "If you've noticed he hasn't been lurking in any dark corners for the past few days and none of the first years have ended up at Madame Pomphrey's".

Realisation dawned on her but she was left just as confused. She put down her eye of newt, "What did you do, Black?", her voice was curious, however nothing could disguise the worry in her tone. Sirius was so calm, stirring their potion as if he had not a care in the world and had not insinuated they had assaulted another student.

"What? No thank you for defending your honour, Trivinere?", he had turned his body fully to hers, his eye brow raised. He continued, "On Wednesday we found him levitating some Hufflepuffs up side down by the lake, lets just say we gifted our dear friend Rosier with a brand new set of teeth". He smirked at her and shook his shaggy hair, "He told us to pass on his regards".

She could guess what had happened from there; undoubtedly the idiot Marauders had rushed to defend the Hufflepuffs, they were living up to the bravery of their house but it was not out of the kindness of their hearts. Perhaps with the exception of Remus, the boys had wanted to get a one up on the Slytherins and chance to hex the hell out of Rosier and used this perfect opportunity to their advantage. It wasn't that Rosier didn't deserve it, in fact Diana hoped the tooth-growing spell he had obviously been hexed with would never wear off and he could shove his regards where the sun doesn't shine, but at the end of the day Rosier had a whole gang of friends practically gagging to cause some damage and she had OWLs and her pretty face to worry about. She didn't need Rosier thinking, no matter how true it was, that this had something to do with her and jumping on her case - the less interaction with him the better.

"Very mature", she pursed her lips. She carried on with her work before muttering, "Though can't say he didn't deserve it".

"Exactly. Even Miss Teacher's Pet can't deny that", his tone was prickly as he didn't appreciate her chiding, after all the snake had put his hands on her. "If anything we did you a favour", he leaned on the table with his arms crossed.

She scoffed, "You're right, all I wanted for Christmas this year was a stinging hex from Rosier and his pals". She was roughly stirring the potion, "To be dragged into your feud with the Slytherins was exactly what I wanted".

"If you haven't noticed, they hate you anyway. You've embarrassed them just by being here and you know it", he snorted and turned to look directly at her, jabbing his finger down on the wooden table. Diana knew exactly what he was suggesting - he didn't mean next to him in the potions classroom but her vey existence in _Gryffindor _house. She had upset generations of traditions after her sorting and not only did the Slytherins know that but so did the whole school so this well known idea that she had snubbed their house meant all she had to do was breath in a Slytherins direction to cause offence. That was something they both could understand.

She stirred the potion forcefully, going far too fast than the recipe stated but he was really trying her. She was a patient person but Sirius Black was a whole new breed of annoying and all she wanted to do was smack that arrogant smirk off his face.

"Scared of Rosier, are we? Don't worry Trivinere, I'll protect you", his voice was suddenly right behind her ear, his breath on her neck.

She slammed down the metal ladle, drops of the draught flying all over Sirius, purple spots appearing all over his shirt.

She turned to face him, "In your big-headedness did you not stop to think that maybe I don't want to be involved in your little war with Rosier and that you actually don't know everything?", she chucked the dragonfly wings into the cauldron and gathered her things. She walked a few paces before turning back towards him, and indignantly reminded him, "And I didn't ask you to "protect me" so just piss off Black".

She marched out of the classroom, ignoring the curious looks from her classmates, and didn't stop until she reached the doors of the library. She had a free hour next and she fully planned to take advantage of it by hiding out behind the many bookshelves.

Of course, nothing she wanted ever happened recently, and she had to remind herself that she was indeed in a public place at school and she indeed did not want to spend years in Azkaban and detention for hexing off James Potter's private parts when she saw his messy head moving toward her. By the time he had approached her, she had her lips pursed in a line and her dark eyes were narrowed on his spectacled face.

James approached her casually and slumped down next to her, his glasses crooked on his handsome face. He pulled out a book from his satchel and proceeded to get comfy as he opened it up. If she weren't in such a foul mood she was sure she would have died from shock. James Potter with an actual book and big mouth silent was a sight she never thought she would see. It was definitely suspicious behaviour.

"What do you want, Potter?", she pretended to read her Care of Magical Creatures book, her eyes fixed on the blurred words on parchment.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Just that I've had the most awful row with that prat Padfoot and I just needed a place away from his big-headedness and absolutely ludicrous need to protect", he used the words she had used to describe the boy in question, his cheeky grin peeking out from the top of his book. He put it on the desk, "Just thought us girls could talk about what an absolutely silly git he is together".

Diana let out a huff, she could feel her annoyance dissolving. This day just kept getting weirder. Here she was, hiding out in the library with James Potter, who not only was reading but actually came to comfort her.

"I'm assuming you heard what we argued about", she had her eyes fixed on the table in front of her, her fingers playing with the ends of her hair. As if she hadn't humiliated herself in front of the Marauders enough.

"Well, actually, I don't think you were that loud. Only the whole potion's class heard and you know the whole thing was quite ironic, seemed like you could of done with some of that calming draught-", his statement was cut off immediately by the sharp look Diana threw at him, making his body slump a bit further into his chair. He coughed slightly and continued, "Which is absolutely not the point. The real point is that we, and by we I also mean Sirius, are sorry for using you as an excuse for hexing Rosier. It was absolutely horrid of us and I'll be sure to give Sirius and Peter a good thrashing for their involvement".

Despite his playful tone she could see the sincerity in his apology. He didn't have to come and find her in the first place and he did not have to apologise, they hadn't done anything to her and their fight, as of yet, had not even affected her. She was certain any other boy would have brushed her off as being a typical pureblood drama queen.

She gave him a small smile, "Thank you James, I understand what a brat this makes me look but I would prefer a drama-free year, especially this year".

James visibly gulped and he bit his lip before hesitantly saying, "Perfectly understandable, I heard about your mother?". It had started off as a statement before trailing into a question, his eyes widening with every word as if he regretted starting talking in the first place and from the look on his face he wished he could take his words back.

Diana sat in shocked silence for a few moments, unsure of how to proceed. She definitely wasn't angry at him, she could tell by his manner he didn't mean anything by it, she was more floored by the fact that he knew such a thing. The Potters were an old wizarding family, that was true, and were very amicable people. She had met them herself a handful of times at various pureblood gatherings in her younger years but as her mother's mental stability worsened and the Potter's subsequent labelling as blood-traitors, their encounters had disappeared. Diana had forgotten about Mr Potter's prominent position in the Wizengamot.

Before she could speak, he rushed to mend the situation, stuttering incoherently before settling on "Dad was on the council when the St Mungos team made the decision to move her, he wanted to make sure you were alright".

A few things made more sense, at least Potter's sudden appearance in her life did anyway. She couldn't help but feel defensive, her mind rushing to all of the Marauder's motives for their new-found interest in her. She could feel her exterior hardening, her jaw clenching slightly. She didn't need anyone's pity, no matter how genuine it was.

"I'm fine. I accepted the situation a long time ago", shutting her book purposefully, ending the conversation.

James paled, he could see his interest was not well received and tried again to salvage the situation, "I didn't mean anything by it, just if you need-"

Diana sharply cut him off, "I don't _need _anything from anyone", she picked up her bag and continued, "You don't need to look after me Potter, I've been doing that just fine myself for a while".

She proceeded to march out of the library, her jaw set stubbornly, leaving a shocked James in his seat. Diana knew she had been out of order, that was the only thing she had consistently achieved at being today. But for the most part of her life she had been alone, aside from Lily and the Evans' and though, yes, it was unconventional she was fine, they were all she needed. She had determined long ago that her mother's absence wouldn't be a source of weakness to her and that it would never be ammunition to hurt her, however the anger she felt towards Camilla meant that she was never a topic that was up for discussion. Even Lilly knew to choose her words carefully when it came it to that sore subject. She knew she would be fine and Lily and everyone else knew that too, hopefully Potter would get with the program and realise that his need to baby her were unnecessary. Hopefully.

/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Care of Magical Creatures was not his favourite subject. It wasn't that he was particularly bad at it but Sirius thought the amount of time spent on the boring creatures Professor Kettlebum insisted they study was unnecessary. The school never let them see anything interesting. Like a hypogriff. Now that would definitely be exciting. Instead they were handling bowtruckles, like they had been all week, and even though they had been more of a handful than he had been expecting, Sirius had assumed his usual bored position and had zoned out ten minutes into the lesson.

It had been funny at first, watching Peter and James attempt to catch their fleeing bowtruckle, but his attention had been drawn else where. To the petite blonde. Sitting calmly on the ground, petting one of the green little pests that was perched happily in her palm.

There was no denying that Trivinere had a way with beasts, of all sorts as well. He remembered when the Professor had introduced them to murtlaps last year, particularly aggressive little buggers with a nasty bite to match. Diana was the only one to effectively extract their venom without a single scratch whilst Peter was off to the hospital wing with flames shooting out from his nether region. Even now, the usually offensive bowtruckle was dangling playfully from her fingers, while everyone else was narrowly avoiding their sharp swipes.

She looked stressed. Anyone who was looking close enough could see the crossed brows and board straight back were definitely signs of a person being tightly wound so Sirius felt no need to go over and bother her some more. He was smart enough to want to keep his most prized man parts attached to his body this period.

Although when a sweating James flopped down next to him he couldn't resist but gesturing to her and asking, "That your handiwork, then?".

James huffed out a breath and threw himself backwards, "Don't. I think I've made a royal mess of that one and may have unintentionally ruined any future broom cupboard rendezvous between you and her".

Sirius snorted at that, "You must be having a laugh. As if princess witch-bitch would ever be lucky enough to be graced with all this?". He could feel James's eye roll, "What did you say to her anyway?".

James dragged both arms over his face before replying, "Oh you know, just girl stuff". That was answer enough, he wasn't about to divulge any of Diana's business to anyone, even his best mate, especially after how she responded when he talked to _her _about it. He didn't have a death wish.

"Come on Prongs, it's only little old me", Sirius chucked his tie at the boy laying next to him, genuinely curious as to what had pissed Diana off so much that she had flat out ignored the Marauders when she walked into class, Remus included.

James just shrugged, a playful smirk on his face but the look in his eyes told Sirius that his friend wasn't budging. He couldn't help but feel irritated, they shared everything together and this was a girl they barely knew and yet here he was, playing her Secret-Keeper. Although there was no denying his curiosity overshadowed any annoyance he had so he replied with a mischievous "Alright then" and made to get up to ask Diana himself.

This prompted James to immediately sit up from the grass and dramatically request that Sirius would please not "Poke the hypogriff" and to leave her be, claiming that it wasn't any of his business anyway and that what "happened between girls, stayed between girls" so he was bound to secrecy.

Sirius merely barked out a laugh and proceeded to push his friend back down in the grass, "Whilst I and the entire quidditch team know it's not impressive, I'm fairly sure what you have between your legs means you're as just a man as me, although it's no wonder Evans won't date you".

This resulted in a brand new eruption of bickering about who was more of a man than the other and the real reason behind Lily's dislike of him. They were squabbling so loudly they didn't even notice Diana cautiously walking towards them until her shadow startled the both of them, prompting both boys to stare accusingly at the clouds for letting the sun go in.

In truth, she had heard James defending her, him not being the most discreet or inconspicuous of talkers, and despite the resentment she felt towards their previous conversation, she was thankful he hadn't betrayed what he knew. Especially to Black. And especially with all the reasons she had given him to. So she had taken it upon herself to rescue him, and unfortunately by default Black, from Professor Kettlebum's wrath as a peace offering.

Diana purposefully ignored the dark-haired boy, staring up at her curiously, and held out her hand towards James, a sheepish smile on her face, "Here".

James for a moment stared dumbstruck at her, still half convinced she would pull out her wand and hex him at any second, before looking at object gently swaying in her hand. Or rather the thing.

Sat in the seat of her palm was his bowtruckle, the very one that had managed to evade two full grown boys and caused him to accept his inevitable fate of spending Friday evenings in detention with Professor Kettlebum. He had numerous cuts all over his arms and even one on his chin from trying to wrangle the little thing and it certainly had him relieved that he wasn't dealing with anything bigger. In fact his whole performance with the bowtruckle was a prime example of why their class was not trusted with any creature above the beast classification of XX. But now there it was. Calmly waiting to be claimed, Diana's own green beast nestled amongst her white hair on her shoulder.

"Um…", James still had not regained the art of speech.

"I think the big boy word you're looking for is 'thank-you', Prongs", Sirius' voice cut through the silence and he reached his own hand out towards Diana, allowing the bowtruckle to slide across.

Diana gave a tight-lipped smile, jumping slightly at the brief touch of Sirius' hand with hers before stalking towards the Professor, clearly disgruntled by the interaction, her hair billowing out behind her. It was safe to say that all 3 were just as surprised as the other by her sudden change of heart and decision to talk to them. Even if it was a single word. She confused Sirius to no end and the unpredictability of their encounters had begun to bother him.

He hadn't realise he had been staring at her until James asked, "Do you seriously not think she is pretty?"

It was a simple enough question, one that he had vigorously denied since third year, however now he replied simply, his eyes trailing after her, "No, she is".


	6. Chapter 6

It was dark all around her, not even the moon broke through the trees to give any light - not that she needed it. Wherever she was, she could see just fine; her eyesight had never been keener, in fact all her senses were sharpened. She could feel the pine needles beneath her feet and the damp smell of wet leaves from freshly fallen rain.

She was alone but she wasn't afraid, wherever she was it felt right to be there; she could sense other creatures within the dark but they paid her no mind. Even if they did she wasn't worried, she was strong, she could feel it. She didn't quite know what she was, she was still Diana Trivinere yet she was somehow more, more like herself than ever but she knew that if she looked in the mirror she wouldn't recognise herself.

There was something at the end of the darkness that pushed her forward, she had been following it for a while and she was propelling towards it at a speed so great she was sure she was in a dream. It wasn't until she moved closer that she could decipher her name, being called out in the dark, crooned like a coaxing parent to their child. A voice that was unfamiliar to her but not completely unknown and exuded no threat or danger.

She made her way through the deep black until she came to the end, stepping out into the light of the moon.

/

The Hogsmeade trip was just 4 days away and both Marlene and Lily had nabbed a date, meaning that if Diana didn't get her ass in gear she would be stuck spending the weekend on her lonesome or third-wheeling one of them. Marlene was going with a Ravenclaw fifth year, who Diana was informed was far more experienced than his age would suggest, and Lily was going on a purely friendly basis with Snape as she hadn't spent any time with him recently. Lily had relayed that fact with a sympathetic pat on the hand and a shrug leaving Diana to respond with a severe roll of the eyes.

Truthfully neither option was better than the other and normally Diana would be perfectly happy to go alone, in fact she usually just drifted over to Flourish and Blotts until the others were ready to leave. However in the past few weeks no one had even asked her. Not one single boy. Not even Barnaby Abbot, who normally she would have to politely reject once or twice a week as she found his not so secret obsession with her endearing yet unsettling. Actually he had been avoiding her eye contact all week as had most of the male population recently. She knew, without being purposefully conceited, that she would decline any invitation to go with them, purely because in lieu of her friends she preferred her own company and she found interactions with people she didn't know very well extremely difficult. But a girl still liked to be asked. In general she wasn't really concerned about what she looked like for lessons and truthfully the vivid dreams she had been having hadn't done wonders for her sleeping pattern but surely she didn't look that run down. So self-conscious she was beginning to feel that she made a considerable effort to look presentable and replaced her usual messy pony tail for a tidy half-up, half-down look which she polished off with the purple ribbon Alice had given her last Christmas. She even borrowed some of Lily's muggle makeup.

Diana smoothed down her skirt in the mirror, uncertain of her new appearance but walked down to breakfast, determined to see whether it made a difference.

Remus was the first to comment when she sat across the table from him and began filling her tea cup, "Hello, I don't believe we've met before?".

Diana narrowed her eyes at him, waiting for him to continue, "It's just, you're very similar to my friend Diana except you don't look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards", he smiled cheekily and took a bite of his toast.

"Oh hardy har har, Remus", she stuck her tongue out at him, "Aren't we a joker this morning?". It was true though but everyone could blame the deadlines she had to meet and all the extra prefect duties Lily had her doing. Time was a luxury she just didn't have at the moment. She was reaching for the last cinnamon bun when it was quickly snatched out from her grasp, her hand touching a heartbreakingly empty tray.

"Who in Merlins name would dare-", she started as she turned to face the soon to be dead thief, not hearing her friends hecklings of "Large green man SMASH", "You mean the hulk", "Yeah that's the one".

She was shocked to see an equally surprised Sirius Black, clutching the pastry in his hands, frozen still when he realised just who had pilfered from. He had seen the long white hair curling about a pair of slender shoulders and immediately his signature smirk had slipped onto his face, his day starting to look up after seeing Peter's bare backside in the bathroom this morning. He expected to lay down his usual charm, hopefully charming the knickers off the lucky girl or at least grabbing a quite kiss in a broom cupboard, but he did not expect that _she _would be Trivinere. He knew she had always been naturally beautiful but right now she looked positively radiant.

He hadn't realised he had been staring at her incredulously until he noticed Diana's scowl and until an excited James clapped him on the shoulder before catching sight of Diana. Potter sauntered over to her, not before trailing his hand over Lily's shoulder and ignoring her response of "Hands off git", and placed a hand on his hip and forehead in a fake swoon before exclaiming, "Oh girl someone better take me to Madame Pomfrey because I've scraped my knee falling for you".

The large majority of the Gryffindor table burst out laughing, even Lily smirked whilst rolling her eyes, and Diana blushed lightly as she watched James stand on the bench and bow to his laughing fans. She reached up and wrenched him back again muttering out a half-hearted warning that she would hex off his most prized man parts if he didn't stop acting like a prat.

"But you look absolutely ravishing this morning, doesn't she Peter?", James asked with a cheeky smile, well aware of the flustered look on Diana's face. Peter, true to form, nodded but looked genuinely confused as to who was sitting before him, it looked like a cleaner Diana but she wasn't as sassy this morning so he wondered if maybe she had a cousin or tidier sister that they didn't know about.

Upon hearing Lily's snort, James immediately turned to her, "But of course no one compares to you, my love".

"You know, Potter, if you spent a little less time acting like a dancing monkey in front of the rest of the year you might actually have a chance of finding a real girlfriend this year", Lily replied, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice and narrowing her green eyes.

"Is that an offer?", James asked hopefully, leaning forwards towards her.

Sirius missed Lily's scream of frustration, to busy he was alternating between looking at Diana and all the other members of the male population who took an interest in her new look. It wasn't until the little Prewett girl nudged him with an elbow, "You might want to give her the cinnamon roll", she smirked up at him, "before she bites your hand off".

True enough, Diana was watching him, where he had been standing behind her with the cinnamon roll in his hand. He more or less chucked it at her before taking his seat next to James.

/

"What is wrong with me?", Diana exclaimed loudly whilst walking from Ancient Runes with Lily and Alice, "What could possibly be so bad?". Her friends had found it hilarious when Harold Bletchley had point blank refused to sit next to her during class and Alfred Cattermole had scampered away from her like she had troll breath when she had picked up his quill for him. Diana, on the other hand, did not.

"Its not bad for you, people aren't running away from you like you have dragon pox", she snapped at her laughing friends. She caught the eye of a passing boy, who immediately looked down again and picked up his pace in the other direction. "What?", she called after him, "Do I have something on my face?".

"Maybe its your cheery disposition", Alice said sarcastically, watching her demented friend's face get redder and redder by the second.

"Something is going on!", Diana declared, a finger pointed in the air.

"I'll have to agree", Lily piped up, her laughing fit clearing up, "maybe you smell? Even Sirius wasn't his usual self at breakfast, he went right back to being a pompous ass in Astronomy though".

Diana could feel her right eye twitching, her frustration nearly boiling over into full on insanity. Every person of the male persuasion was purposefully ignoring or avoiding her. It had only become more apart today. Apart from Remus, James and Peter of course, but Dumb, Dumb and Dumber (another perfectly placed muggle reference) were unperceptive at the best of times. Maybe she did smell. She sniffed her armpit. Maybe it was the bow.

Lily watched her friend's inner turmoil with an amused smile on her face before grabbing her arm and pulling her along the hallway, "Lets get you back before you accost another poor, unsuspecting boy".

They had only walked a few steps before Diana was forced to stop, a red blush bursting over her face. Lily hitched a breath as Timothy Clearwater strolled round the corner, wavy hair pushed into its usual messy style, his glasses perched on his nose. Alice excitedly whispered,"Accost him, accost him!".

They stood in silence as he approached cautiously, his head flicking in each direction to see if anyone was looking. He gripped his bag tighter as he greeted Lily and Alice, both of whom muttered out high pitch inaudible humming noises, fidgeting on the spot.

He turned to Diana, clearing his throat, "Diana, how are you?". His voice was just as angelic as she thought it would be. She was staring she knew, at his eyes, nose, perfect mouth and she implored herself to act cool when she stuttered out a "Fine, thank you".

Timothy offered her a small smile, looking once more over his shoulder as he leaned in close to her, "I hope you're feeling better now, you look well". Oh my Merlin, he smelled like red-velvet cake.

"I'm-", was the only word she was able to mutter out before a group of 4th years burst down the hallway causing Timothy to pull back abruptly and give a polite goodbye as he hurried off past them.

"Well that was unbelievably odd", Alice finally commented as all three girls stood motionless in the hall, trying to explain this very peculiar interaction.

"Feeling better?", Lily turned to Diana with a suspicious stare, "What's wrong with you?".

"Nothing!", Diana replied indignantly, throwing her arms up in frustration, "I was just about to ask him what he was on about but then I got lost in those bloody, green eyes".

"Well whatever is going on its reached the sixth-years", Alice replied seriously, "Looks like you're about to be more famous than Marlene when she got caught in the Astronomy Tower with the head boy last year". Both Lily and Diana shuddered at the thought.

Diana didn't know how to feel. A part of her was over the moon that Timothy had deemed her worthy to bestow his presence upon; she had learned so many things about him in their 2-minute interaction. He smelt delicious, he looked even more delicious up close and oh, those eyes. The other half of her was absolutely mortified. Better now? Was she not better before? And even if she wasn't, she had no idea this was of public interest and people were obviously talking about it. Timothy was not remotely near any of the friendship circles she was in yet he knew something she didn't. He seemed kind enough and there was definitely no malice in his voice when he had asked after her wellbeing but dear Godric, Timothy Clearwater had spoken actual words at her!

All three couldn't stop gushing over what had just past, despite the strangeness of it all, and their fan-girling was only interrupted when a suspicious looking Barnaby Abbott caught Alice's eye.

"Looks like your future-husband couldn't stay away any longer", she pointed out towards the sandy-haired boy who had pushed himself as far against the wall as he could to be inconspicuous, stifling a laugh.

Diana's head whipped round immediately, catching the blue eyes of a Hufflepuff who knew he had been busted. Barnaby stiffened, eyes wide and he looked so much like a deer caught in headlights that it almost seemed that he thought if he kept still enough she wouldn't see him.

"Barnaby!", Diana called at him, her dark eyes holding him still. When his eyes clamped shut, she repeated his name just as harshly and stepped towards him, demanding, "What do you think you're doing?".

"I was just- um- actually I pulled my calf muscle in quidditch this morn-", the short boy made to make a run for it, trying to dart past the three girls in an attempt to save the rest of his dignity and his face. It seemed like a foolproof plan until the much taller Lily hooked her fingers into the back of his robes and yanked him back into the corner he had been hiding in. All three stood in front of him, Diana staring him down in the middle and if the situation wasn't bad for his health he would of remarked on how pretty she looked today.

"What have you been lurking about for, Abbot?", Diana questioned, a hand on her hip and her eyes narrowed on his face.

"I was- ah- just enjoying the day, you know people-watching", he stuttered out, slightly proud of how plausible that might have sounded if he hadn't of stumbled over the words.

"_Or, _and hear me out, you were, as you usually are on Friday's, fixing to ask dear ol' Trivinere to go to Hogsmead with you this weekend", Alice drawled out, looking at her nails, feigning boredom at these turn of events that had made her walk back from Ancient Runes considerably more interesting.

"I absolutely, positively was not!", Abbot maintain firmly, he crossed his arms in severity.

"Oh, don't you like her anymore Barnie?", Lily put an arm round Diana, who was feigning sadness at this, her bottom lip thrust out in a pout.

"Oh no, no, I do! But he's made it very clear that-", Barnaby stopped talking as quickly as he had rushed to defend his still ever-present crush on Diana. But he could tell it was too late when Diana's head snapped towards him with narrowed eyes, her nostrils flared in anger. It was all he could do but mutter out an "Oops" and pray he had the willpower to not dig himself too great a hole.

"You _know_ something", Diana accused with her finger outstretched at him. The cogs were turning in her head as she watched the Hufflepuff internally curse himself and shift awkwardly on the spot as he tried to defend himself, pretending feebly he had not a clue what she was on about.

"Who told you what, Barnaby?", Diana pressed, pleased that she wasn't suffering from typical teen paranoia. She refused to let this drop and leave the clearly anxious boy alone. She was so close to finding out what was going on and she would be damned if she let this chance slip through her fingers.

"You've been caught, you might as well just spill the beans. We aren't going to let you go until you do", Lily spoke up in a soothing voice, the good cop to Diana's bad cop who had her wand raised level with Barnaby's head. Alice nodded in agreement but just looked confused as she wondered what beans had to do with anything.

Barnaby took a deep breath, his eyes darting between the wand pointed straight at his face and the sympathetic look on Lily's face. What were his options here? Realistically, it was either a punch to the face or a hex to the face and he knew which was the lesser of two evils. A broken nose was far more easy to correct than being cursed by a particularly feisty short beauty. Also, he didn't want to upset anyone, especially Diana and considering her reaction to all this, he felt he wasn't wrong in thinking that it was doing just that. It wasn't kind and after all kindness was his house. Really he was left with one option.

"Herpes! You have herpes!", he all but burst out to the entire hallway. Kindness he may have but tact he did not.

"I beg your pardon?", Diana shouted out incredulously, having not a clue what he was on about. Lily and Alice burst out laughing, the former crashing against to hold herself up.

"Herpes?", Diana looked at her two hysterical friends for some help. She had know idea what Barnaby was talking about - she knew it was some sort of muggle illness; she remembered Alice talking about how her brother Fabian had caught it last Christmas. The two said friends were absolutely no help, new bursts of laughter wracking their bodies every time they opened their mouths.

"He said its a muggle disease you caught while handling rabbits this summer - highly contagious apparently but honestly you don't look too ba-", Barnaby swallowed audibly at the dark narrowed eyes that had returned their attention to him, finishing with, "I-, you-, rabbits".

Obviously this prompted a whole new round of shrieking from the other two girls, who were clearly enjoying the two purebloods' ignorance in the ways of the muggle world.

"Oh my Godric! Rabbits!"

"Going at it like rabbits you mean!"

Diana shushed her friends harshly before replacing her wand back towards the Hufflepuff's head, snapping out, "Who?"

Dear Merlin he was in for it now. Barnaby wasn't brave. Not at all. In fact the remotely heroic thing he had ever done in his life was foil Mulciber's plot to lock first years in the prefect's toilets and that was only because he had eaten too many Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans at breakfast. Keeping this in mind, it was no surprise when he squealed out, "Black, Black! It was Black, he's been going around, threatening to hex anyone who talks to you!".

It was simultaneous. Her friends laughter stopped straightaway as Diana's wand hand fell to her side, knuckles white. Her eye was twitching again.

"Not good."

"Barnaby, I think you should go now".

/

Today had been boring as usual. He'd earned himself a detention early that morning, for pranking that grease ball Snivellus at breakfast, and then Peter had earned him another one by getting Professor Flitwick covered in slime while trying to impress a Hufflepuff 6th year. He ended up in the broom cupboard with Sylvia Copper after lunch, much to her twin sisters anger, and now he was sitting with James, listening to him harp on about how brilliant Evans is. Like he said, same old same old.

"Yes Prongs, its definitely your hair cut that keeps putting Evans off. A hundred percent not your ceaseless whinging at her to go out with you", Sirius drawled out, shoving another chocolate frog

into his mouth.

"Shut it, if I wanted advice on how to get seductive-make-the-girls-swoon-slightly-greasy hero hair you'd be the first person I go to", James laughed, before skimming a rock over the Black Lake. He turned back towards his slightly insulted partner in crime, a small smirk on his face.

"Although I would lay off the chocolate, Padfoot my old chum", Sirius looked towards him with a mouth crammed full of sweets, a dark expression on his face.

"Whad arg you talking 'bout?"

"Trust me, not all the hexing and scrapping in the world will stop boys asking out Diana if you start having to wear the same sized knickers as Pete", James smiled evilly as Sirius choked, little parts of frog spluttering all over his shirt.

"I'm just protecting your new little friend's honour, you should be thanking me", Sirius replied with a slight frown, avoiding the gaze of his annoyingly smug looking best mate.

"Sure, we can pretend that its all for my benefit", James' smirk got wider, he knew exactly what Sirius was doing. He was enjoying the other boys discomfort so much, he almost didn't notice the blur of colour running towards them, his smirk dropping and his eyes widening.

"Black, you foul, conniving, little cockroach!"

"Oh, shit".

**Hello, as per all disclaimers are valid and I would really appreciate it if you guys reviewed so I know whether the story is to your liking/if there is anything I should do differently! Thank so much x x **


	7. Chapter 7

Lily was angry and confused. Well more intrigued than confused. Definitely angry though. Intrigued over confused because she knew Black was a massive imbecile with an ego bigger than the giant squid so his churning up the school rumour mill wasn't surprising. She was angry because now she'd have to go and talk to Potter, since the ass himself was locked in the Charms room serving detention with her best friend as they had been for the past 2 weeks.

She was immediately starting to regret her decision as she walked towards Potter, a smirk already spreading across that self-righteous mug. She didn't really want to give him the satisfaction but she had to have an explanation for what had been going on. She hadn't seen Diana properly between her detention and the library and Sirius had taken to occupying more broom cupboards than usual, leaving her with only one option.

"My sweet Lily-flower, how are we this fine day?", James asked, not bothering to disguises his obvious joy at the fact that the usually abrasive redhead needed his help. Cue first eye-roll of the day.

"Don't annoy me this early in the morning Potter", she sat down in front of him stiffly, hands placed firmly in front of her. You could tell she meant business. "Explain".

"You'll have to be more specific, my love", he replied, buttering his toast without a care in the world, smiling innocently at her. He knew what she wanted alright, she had already tried to shake down Remus and Peter and obviously they didn't have one bloody clue, Peter hadn't even noticed anything was even going on with Sirius. This was the first time she had sought him out and willingly engaged in conversation with him - he would rather endure all three Unforgivable Curses than cut their time together short by giving her what she wanted. Not even joking.

Lily huffed, "Whats going on with Black?".

"Which one? Regulus? He's right over there, ask him", James said cheekily, still buttering his toast as he pretended that he had not one squirrel what she was on about.

Lily pursed her lips. Intelligence was needed here to succeed and she had far more than Potter, she was certain she could weasel what she wanted out of him. At a price. Because as much as she hated to admit it, he wasn't a fool and she didn't like her chances at deceiving the deceiver. Still, she wasn't anything if not patient.

Her hand slowly descended to the hand furiously lathering butter on already drowning bread, stilling it, "Oh James. You see right through me, McGonagall was concerned about Sirius' behaviour and as one of the prefects, she asked me to look into his welfare". A smile that she hoped resembled innocence was on her face and she fluttered her eyelashes.

James' eyes were firmly locked on her hand on top of his, this had progressed quickly. Yesterday she was pinching her nose and walking away from his very presence but now they were engaged in physical hand touching in the Great Hall. How far they had come. Lily was leaning forward in excitement, her little show of non violent physical interaction had done the trick just like she thought it had.

At least she thought it had until hazel eyes with an unbearably smug glint snapped up to hers, "Nice try. Honestly, it was a bloody good attempt".

She flopped back in frustration, throwing his hand away from hers and heaving out a big sigh. So much for outsmarting him, "So Potter, what will it take for you to tell me?"

"Go out with me", was the instantaneous reply, no thought required.

She flared her nostrils, the corner of her lip twitching. Calm. Calm. Patient as a saint. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she did so, reopening slowly as she exhaled.

"Or…I'll do your Charms homework for a month?", Lily countered, restraining her fury at his obvious manipulation of her ignorance.

"As lovely as the offer is, I'm not really the homework type", James replied with a smirk. He downed the rest of his pumpkin juice, wiping his stubbled chin with his sleeve and took a bite of his toast. Suspense successfully built, he continued, "So then, our date?"

For God's sake. Cue second eye roll of the day.

"Suppose I do agree to a…casual meeting with you", she countered, smothering a shudder at her approaching surrender.

"Date."

"Non-date"

"Tonight"

"This evening"

"At the Quidditch fields"

"At the…library", she compromised; albeit she was surprised by his initial suggestion, the quidditch fields not being the spot she thought the notorious flirter, James Potter, would take members of the female population to woo them. She was intrigued to be certain but her desire to give him nothing that he wanted won out.

James nodded in amusement, barely struggling to cover up his grin.

"So if I agree to this casual meeting this evening at the library…with you", she gulped audibly, "you'll explain what happened between Sirius and Diana?"

James nodded and gave her a wink, reached over and finished off her tea. "I haven't a scooby what you're on about", he turned away slightly but held out his hand at her sour look, "C'mon Lilykins, we've got Astronomy".

/

Somehow he had convinced her to wait until past curfew to meet for their non-date. He had pestered her all through Astronomy, Herbology and DADA, maintaining that what he had planned wouldn't work before everyone had gone to bed, including Madame Pince, and that if she really wanted to know the gossip an additional hour or two wouldn't go amiss. She had acquiesced to his request begrudgingly, the only saving grace was that he wasn't changing the venue.

He had told her to wait in the common room for him, he would come for her at 10 o'clock on the dot. She was standing there grumbling, it was 10:04 and he still wasn't here; she smoothed down her hair and straightened her top. Yes if you must know she had made an annoying amount of effort with her appearance, she'd brushed out her hair, swapped her normal robes for muggle clothes and even threw on a little makeup. Damn her teenage girl insecurities.

"If it was possible, you look lovelier than usual", a voice rang out from the portrait hole and she turned to face the owner of the voice. Potter stood there with an ecstatic smile on his handsome face. She didn't like to admit it but he had made an effort, smart clothes with a cloak of black shimmering fabric draped over his arm, but honestly he did look nervous.

"You're late", she frowned, hands set on her hips.

"Just building the suspense, Lilyflower", he smiled at her and held out his arm. Lily walked forward a few steps, hesitating for a few seconds before accepting it, her hand resting at its base. Her fingers brushed against the lightest of velvet, so soft it almost felt like a breeze moving along her fingertips and she grabbed it absentmindedly. James glanced down and smiled, proud she had noticed, "I thought we would probably need some extra assistance, old Argus is patrolling tonight".

"You better not get us caught, Potter. I won't hesitate to dob you in as a kidnapper if we do", she replied, only half joking. If she was going to make it to Head Girl next year, she couldn't be caught after hours - it would send her chances out the window.

"You wound me, I am a Marauder after all", was James's reply before he unravelled the cloak from his arm as they stepped out of the portrait hole, throwing the material over them until it covered them both completely. Truth be told it was a tight squeeze.

Lily definitely would have complained at their close proximity if she wasn't amazed by what was going on around her. She hadn't missed that their shrouded bodies cast no shadow on the castle floor, she burst out, "Is this a-?"

"Invisibility cloak", he finished for her, even in the dim light she knew he was smiling. "It was my dad's and every other Potter's before me, a Potterloom some might say", James explained as they snuck through the hallways, Potter glancing this way and that every time they crossed into a new one.

They arrived at the library and it wasn't until they got inside that he took the cloak off from them both and cleared his throat. He gestured towards a row of bookshelves to the left that led deep into the room, "After you, mon cherie".

Lily narrowed her eyes at the tall boy, distrustful of any unwanted discoveries that lay at the end of the dark passageway. She opened her mouth to deliver a scathing threat but James saw it coming a mile away and cut her off, "No nasty surprises I promise, if you don't like it you have full permission to spank me and send me on my way with a month full of detentions".

Lily scoffed, but secretly thrilled by this unexpected adventure she only managed a half-hearted, "Bloody perv" before following his instructions. For a while she walked down along the bookcases, James's foot steps echoing behind her until she worried he actually was going to lure her into a dark place and kidnap her. Eventually a soft orange glow emitted from the end of the bookshelves and she was thoroughly impressed by what she saw.

One of the study areas had been completely redecorated for the occasion, the desks had all been moved away except for one that was laden with candles, a barrel of butterbeer and treats, funnily enough her favourites - cherry bakewells. Even more comical was the presence of Peter, squeezed into a little waistcoat and speaking in the most ridiculously put on french accent, "Good evening mademoizelle, pleaze zit down".

Lily obeyed, sat down at the table and waited as James whispered something to Peter, who scurried off in the other direction, before taking his place to the right of her.

He cleared his throat and poured her a mug of beer, "I'm actually surprised you're here".

"Join the club", was her reply.

Truth be told she was surprised too but he had made so much effort that she found she was sort of glad she came. This was not the Potter she knew, the arrogant, self-absorbed prat that had been harassing her since he had first bumped into her first-year, knocking all her books to the ground with his signature smirk.

The evening actually progressed…nicely. They spoke about their impending OWLs, their respective parents who she discovered were called Fleamont and Euphemia and all manner of general things that made her forget the main purpose of the entire situation. She actually felt herself detesting him less and less.

"Down to business I guess", James interjected after a while, his hands out in front. "I can't tell you everything since I am sworn to secrecy".

Lily nodded in understanding, she didn't want to get anyone in trouble or betray anyone's trust. She knew if Diana wanted her to know, she would tell her herself in due time. It didn't mean she couldn't get a general overview though.

"So we know she hexed him within an inch of his life by the lake, Madame Pomfrey had to reverse the head-shrink spell she cast on him", Lily recounted, expressing great pleasure at the memory of her best friend announcing that the heart-throb's head had gotten far too big for the safety of everyone else and so it was her civic duty to put him back down to size.

"Not to mention that right-hook", Peter chimed in as he dropped off more cakes, the crumbs on his collar suggesting he had divulged in a fair few on his way here. "It was an absolute beauty".

"To be honest with you, I think Diana agreeing to go to Hogsmede with Fletcher Selwyn bruised him worse than anything else she did", James supplied, scratching his head, trying to figure out how much he could say.

"And then? What happened in detention?", Lily wondered out loud, getting to the part of the story where she was now out of the loop. She knew that both Sirius and Diana had been marched to

McGonagall's office where she dished out a whopping 50 points each from Gryffindor and a months worth of detention. A week had passed by with no incident but then Diana returned one night surlier than ever and point blank refused to be anywhere near Black outside of her detention, a sentiment that was clearly shared by the boy in question.

"Well…detention clearing out the flesh-eating slugs from Hagrid's pumpkin patch was going absolutely swimmingly, until Professor Slughorn summoned them to his potion's cupboard and from there it goes a bit, well, _odd_", James leaned forward in his chair, running a hand through his messy hair.

"I'll say, somehow veritaserum got thrown into the mix and Sirius blurted out-", Peter began excitedly, then received a flying bakewell to the head, with such a force that was surprising for a baked goody. James followed it up with a glare.

"Blurted out what, Peter?", Lily pressed, glaring at James, daring him to interfere again.

"Peter".

Peter shook his head and remained silent, eyes stuck to his shoes, clearly fearing the wrath of another flying treat.

"For God's sake, James, can you not just explain?", Lily looked at him with a frown, not liking that the boys in front of her were purposefully excluding her from the truth that concerned their good friends. Plus the way they were going on about it made it seem like something awful had gone on.

James avoided her gaze, pushing his glasses up on his nose, "Your best buddy Snivellus was seen lurking about the dungeons when it happened". His tone had changed and it automatically made her stiffen. He hadn't said anything explicitly but she knew the accusation was there; she wasn't on the best terms with Severus true, their opportunities to talk were few and far between now, what with him becoming closer with the other Slytherins. But she wasn't about to lay down and let him be insulted.

"Not completely out of the ordinary since thats where his common room is", she replied pointedly, pursing her lips as she did so, arms crossing in front of her.

"Let's not pretend that the snotty grease ball didn't have anything to do with it, it's all too convenient if you ask me. He usually sticks his abnormally large nose in other people's business", Potter snorted, getting riled up by how readily she protected him. Despite his highly suspicious behaviour. And the fact that he was a slimy git, plain and simple. Pete tittered in agreement.

"But why would Sev drug them? And with veritaserum, a highly complicated potion that is expensive to boot. What could he possibly have to gain?", Lily countered, unwilling to back down, her face getting visibly harder as she took in every insult the insufferable prat dolled out.

"Probably hoped he'd get to see some action, the pathetic little pervert", James laughed out, nudging his friend in jest who responded with a hearty laugh.

At this Lily stood from her seat, slamming her mug down and sending crumbs flying everywhere. She was suddenly reminded of why she harboured so much animosity towards James Potter as she stared at the teenage boy that had suddenly morphed back into the spoilt brat first year she associated him with. She didn't understand how someone could be so unnecessarily cruel, it was incomprehensible to what he could possibly hope to achieve by saying these words to her or anyone for that matter.

She turned away, not wanting to waste another breath on the ass and his little follower but not being able to resist she said firmly, "You're going to end up alone Potter, and maybe finally then you will realise you aren't better than everyone else".

She tossed her hair and strode out of the library, back into the corridor.

/

She was exhausted. She'd been running for hours it seemed, away from what? She didn't know but she was evading definitely with a purpose. She wanted to feel lighter, shrug something off like you do a winter coat in spring but it clung to her, unwavering. She carried on through the night nevertheless, it was beautiful, fresh, rain was coming soon. The trees were damp and as she ran through them the leaves cooled her skin, propelling her forward towards the voice that called her in the dark.

She felt herself slowing to stop on approach to a downward slope, her senses keen enough to tell her something else waited there. She turned her head in either direction, almost as if she was crossing a road, and stilled immediately at the eye contact she made with the creature staring back at her. It was half exposed by the moonlight, but she didn't need it to see he was half man, half horse - a strange mix of nature that she reciprocated, making her relax immediately. The centaur gestured outwards towards her and she made a noise in response, a noise she could never remember making before but that her acquaintance understood instantly. Their eyes never severed once, a silent exchange completed between them. It bowed it's head towards her, backing away slightly and she took off at a great speed down the slope once more.

She reached the end and she felt the change immediately. The air was thick but not with rain she so much anticipated, it was smothering her and she raced forward harder than before. She came to the realisation that she was hunting something, or at least following, and the stench being left behind was its fear. Soon enough she caught up with her target, feeling as if she was unable to stop if she tried; to her left she could see a white horse galloping wildly, froth pouring from clenched teeth. It was both beautiful and familiar, yet she knew this couldn't be true, even so she followed it - uncertain as to whether she was the cause of its anxiety. For hours it seemed like Diana followed the horse, but in mere seconds a flash of green light brought it to its knees, the momentum tipping it over itself before it lay motionless on the forest floor. Something broke across her body as she took in the lolling tongue and the familiar blue eyes that stared blankly into the night. She stopped running. It was darker than it had ever been before, but she couldn't possibly miss the skeletal faces staring out at her, white eyes hovering in the dark. She hoped she'd wake up from this dream soon.

**Helloo, I know this isn't a Sirius/Diana chapter but I really wanted to develop James and Lily's relationship a bit while still keeping it relevant to the plot. Don't worry if things are a little confusing at the moment, I'm getting to explaining everything and I'm bed bound right now so there should be alot of opportunities****for new chapters!  
As usual all disclaimers apply and review x x **


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

She was getting pissed off. With everyone. Lily included. Even Jasper. The bloody little sod was never anywhere in sight when she needed him and she hadn't received a letter in weeks, not that she got many anyway. Everyone was constantly asking if she was alright, tiptoeing around her and making sideways glances at each other whenever Sirius was in her vicinity. It was tedious and petty and getting on her nerves. The lack of sleep probably wasn't helping her mood either. The unseeing eyes of that horse had been playing on her mind ever since she had woke up and every night after she was plagued of dreams of wandering the Forbidden Forest, feeling more alone than ever. It was disconcerting that it was affecting her so, animals died everyday and yet she could think of little else. On top of it all she kept waking up with little cuts and bruises dotted over her body, like she had been rolling around in the brush, and she truly wondered what she was doing at night. People were starting to notice too; Marlene commented that maybe she should start trimming her nails more often. It was all very odd.

Still, there was little time to worry about it now. Diana had to get ready for her date with Fletcher Selwyn, a sixth-year Slytherin she had agreed to go out with when the effects of Sirius's gossiping had worn off and everyone seemed quite convinced that she wasn't suffering from herpes, engaged to be married or moving to France. A decision she had already come to regret; her association with a Slytherin made her public enemy number one in her house and even worse, it had persuaded the Slytherins that Diana hadn't abandoned the old ways and was slowly coming round to their way of thinking. Vile. Truthfully she had only accepted because he was the first boy to ask and she knew an older boy from their nemesis house would annoy Sirius the most. She strongly suspected that they would have nothing in common.

Lily had approved her outfit before she had left, scampering off early with Severus whilst claiming that she didn't want her day ruined so early by running into Potter. Things had been frosty between them, more so than ever, but when Diana had asked about it Lily had brushed her off, stating the scruffy haired boy had just been his usual arrogant self. Diana gave herself a once over, pleased with the lavender jumper and pearl coloured bottoms she had chosen but less pleased with the makeup she had to wear, the large scratch running down her temple had demanded it. She nodded and pulled on her coat, ready to meet Selwyn down at the Great Hall.

He was very attractive; blonde, tall and slender but incredibly judgemental and haughty - a true born and bred Slytherin. He was mostly interested in her heritage, asking her questions about tracing the Trivinere blood line through the ages and his sole interesting quality was his love of artwork. Diana tried her best to engage with him, trying to turn away from certain subjects but every time he slipped an arm round her shoulders or made mildly racist jokes she felt sick and fought the urge to shrug him off of her. The final straw was when he roughly nudged a stray dog out of the way with his foot, muttering "Filth!" under his breath, as they passed Madame Puddifoots. Diana made an excuse about meeting Lily to which Fletcher replied with a look of disgust and a curt nod, before formally asking if they could do this again sometime. She awkwardly accepted, shifting on either foot, and succeeded in making the boy blush when she turned her head at the last minute as he leant forward to give her a kiss.

Diana walked a little while until she was in front of the Shrieking Shack, not caring much as she plopped down on a snow covered bench. It didn't take her long to notice a black blur in the corner of her eye, hovering just on the edge of her periphery. It was a big, black dog, waiting just within the tree line, it's shaggy head peeping in and out every so often out of some gooseberry bushes. She watched it out of the corner of her eye for a while before dramatically drawing some wrapped foil from her satchel. It was only a simple sausage roll that she had stolen from the Great Hall at lunch but as she turned her body towards the dog she knew she had its attention. It crept slowly out towards her, and as it emerged Diana's eyes widened at how big it actually was; he was a mass of shaggy, black fur paired with soulful grey eyes.

Surprisingly the dog wasn't interested in the torn part of sausage and pastry she held out to him. Instead it plopped down in front of her in the snow, eyes trained on her, unblinking.

"Don't you want some?", Diana asked, shaking the food but the dog merely tilted his head at her - a refusal from a dog if she ever saw one.

"More for me, I guess" she shrugged, putting the sausage roll in her mouth. The sheer size of this dog confirmed it was the one that her absolutely delightful date had assaulted (after all how many wolf-like dogs roamed around Hogsmeade) and she felt the overwhelming, albeit outrageous, need to apologise to the canine.

"I hope he didn't get you too bad", she said slowly to the dog, "I would apologise and say you caught Selwyn on an off day but he's a pretentious, arrogant dumdum every other day of the week too".

The dogs ears pricked up, his long tail wagging slowly, almost as if he was laughing. Diana held out her hand slowly, vaguely aware of the position she was putting herself in; she had no idea who this dog belonged to or whether it was vicious but he didn't display any aggression of any kind, nor did she feel any fear. He sniffed her hand slowly before pushing his snout into her palm, almost hesitantly, and allowed her to give him a scratch.

"You're not so bad", Diana smiled down at the dog, happy that he hadn't snapped her hand off. "Do you have a name?", she asked as she tickled his scruffy chin. The dog merely blinked at her a few times, so slowly that she thought she detected some derision. "Okay. Okay.", she laughed down at him. She resumed eating her sausage roll as the dog moved closer to her, accepting the end of it when she offered it out.

"So you've got fleas and was kicked by a royal imbecile", she swallowed before continuing, "want to hear about my problems?". The dog looked up at her, opening his mouth with his giant tongue lolling in agreement. She was almost about to feel silly, talking to a stray dog that most definitely had no idea what she was saying, but the more she thought about it, the more she accepted that stranger things had happened and if she was about to provide an all inclusive pass to her emotional turmoil, who better than a stranger? Especially one that couldn't talk back.

"I haven't slept in 3 days", she suddenly blurted out, eyes fixed on the Shrieking Shack. "At least not properly anyway. Every time I close my eyes I-", she stopped suddenly, her breathe catching in her throat, "I have odd dreams". Her silent listener nudged her hand with his snout in silent comfort, pushing her hand further up his scruffy face.

"I think something bad is going to happen and I can't shake it, but I'm probably stressing over nothing", she kicked at the snow whilst scratching the soft patch between those deep grey eyes that she found so much familiarity in. "And then everyone is getting on my case. Well actually the opposite", she corrected herself, "People are looking at me like there's a problem, only they don't say anything which means they have a lot to say when I'm not there".

The dog gave a soft whine as she sighed.

"Its all Sirius' fault", Diana said with sudden conviction. "You don't know him but he's the reason I'm here in the first place. He's a total prat". She snorted but took her companion's soft growl as angry agreement to her observation so she continued, "We weren't friends before I don't think but we had a…falling out. A big one".

She remembered every detail of that detention so clearly. After being dismissed from Hagrid's hut she was more than sulky as she had hoped the friendly half giant would be the perfect mediator between herself and Black. Awkward wasn't an adequate word to describe them. After he had his black eye healed and the head-shrink hex she had hurled at him reversed, he was ignoring her and refusing to tell her why he had been making up rumours about her in the first place. So she resolved to ignore him back and if pure awkward silence was their goal then the night was progressing like a dream. Professor Slughorn had quickly put them to the task of sorting out his potions cupboard and, true to form, embarrassed her by offering them some coated cockroach clusters given to him as a gift by another student. As if she needed any more ammunition to be called a brown-noser so she politely declined.

"Something happened, he just started spouting off about how oblivious and selfish I was and that if anything I should be apologising to him for making him think I was pretty", Diana continued, still stroking the dog's head slowly, remembering the random burst of angry candour that had overtaken the shaggy haired teen and the pure determination in his voice as he addressed her. "He practically ordered me to go to Hogsmeade me with him, it went on for ages".

The dog whined again, fighting the urge to cringe away from the dark eyed girl next to him. "Finally when he stopped, he looked so shocked. He couldn't have run away faster from me if he tried" Diana let out another sigh and pulled her hair from her face, tucking it under her hat. It was true; Sirius had pegged it from the dungeons like a bat out of hell and it was his good fortune that their detention was at its end. "My friend, James, told me later on that somehow he had ingested veritaserum and obviously Sirius blamed me".

She had been furious when she found out. How dare he accuse her of violating his free will in such a manner; standing accused of such cunning and deceit made her feel like the Slytherin she was sure everyone thought she should of been. In fact, she felt even more resolved to never be engaged in conversation with the nefarious Black for the rest of her life as he had brought her nothing but trouble since he had bumped into her on the train. But she had found herself missing their confrontations. There was a slim possibility that her feelings were just as hurt as his.

"I just- I would never do such a thing", she felt the need to reassure her furry friend, scared he would think badly of her just like Sirius did. Turning to look down at him, she muttered, "I could never manipulate somebody like that, I don't have it in me". If anyone else was listening they wouldn't have been able to misinterpret the sadness in her voice and it brought her unexplainable joy to find a black shaggy head laid across her lap.

/\\\\\\\\\\\

She had walked back to the castle alone, arriving just a few minutes before curfew with her jacket wrapped tight around her. She looked to join Lily and the girls for dinner, to catch up on their Hogsmeade experiences - although she could probably sum them up by herself. Lily and Severus had a lovely time hiding in the quietest corner of The Three Broomsticks, Marlene had an even lovelier time snogging the face off of her unsuspecting date in the woods and Alice had spent the trip following the love of her life, Frank Longbottom, around the village. They would all laugh about the tragedy that was her date and the fact that she had swapped human company for something that couldn't talk back. All would once again be how it should. Diana had come to appreciate the predictability of her life and friends, especially since her day to day mundanity had been disrupted by all this weirdness. Knowing what to expect made her a lot more secure.

Dumbledore standing at the front gates was definitely not on the list. He stood in the middle of the entrance, his hands tucked into his blue hanging sleeves as he waited; the epitome of patience. His silvery beard was as long as it ever had been and his expression seemed almost carefree as he waited. Diana looked around her. All of sudden it was just her walking on the castle grounds, her peers seemingly vanishing into the evening air like smoke. The sun had gone down but it got dark early on in the winter and she knew she still had some time before curfew. Diana slowed, her steps faltering in worry. There really wasn't any other explanation to why the headmaster was waiting at the front entrance when everyone else was safely tucked away inside - he was waiting for her.

"Ah, Miss Trivinere", Dumbledore greeted with a smile as she approached, "Such a lovely evening isn't it? And I trust you enjoyed your trip to Hogsmeade. So before we are caught by night's chill, shall we?". One hand gestured away from them, inside towards the school.

Diana could only muster the polite formalities that were customary when talking to any figure of authority and she followed him quietly to his office. Truthfully she had had many encounters with Hogwart's captivating headmaster and despite Dumbledore not showing any sign that something was amiss, she couldn't contain her growing sense of agitation. They arrived at his office and Diana could feel her knee bouncing as she sat in front of his great desk.

"Licorice snap?", the old man offered, holding a silver tin out towards her to which she politely declined. Diana's eyes shifted throughout the room, watching the many eyes of the late great master's of Hogwarts stare back at her with a softness she could not put her finger on, but she immediately calmed at the sight of Fawkes. The phoenix, perched on his gold stand, sat to his master's right and when his eyes connected with Diana's he gave out a low whistle in greeting.

"You've always had an affinity with the bestial, it is quite an admirable quality to have. Beasts have a keener intuition than most of us and contain the purest honesty that humans can only hope to have.", Dumbledore placed the dish back on his desk and knitted his bejewelled hands together in front of him on his desk.

"Regrettably, I have an ulterior motive to inviting you to my office at this hour Diana, one that, despite the repeated suggestions from the Ministry, I feel you have the right to be informed about", his tone was somber, it did nothing to quell the bubbling fear in the pit of her stomach. She nodded for him to continue, not quite trusting her voice.

"I am deeply saddened to inform you of the disappearance of your mother, Camilla. It is not certain as to when such misfortune occurred but as of yesterday evening she was classified as missing by the Ministry, indeed…presumed dead, my child", he placed a consoling hand over her own. "I am so sorry".

For a few brief seconds her face crumbled, her eyebrows and mouth twisting in deep sorrow but she composed herself almost immediately. She sniffled once and put one hand to her face to ensure no tears had fallen. She felt hollow, hot nothing swelling in the part of her where despair should be and the reasons as to why that was only served to upset her further. She had just been told she had lost her mother, the woman who had carried her and birthed her but the more she toyed with the word 'mother' the more she realised that it was not the description for Camilla Trivinere at all. She had been absent for the most part of her life, an animated shell that screamed and hollered and didn't even remember she had a daughter. Diana didn't feel the deep despair one felt at the loss of a parent because she had been her own parent for so long she may as well have already been an orphan. Lily was her parent as was Mrs Evans and Mr Evans and McGonagall and Hagrid and Dumbledore. They had given her the keys to life when her own mother could not, raised her and guided a lonely child to the best of their ability when Camilla was incapacitated. All Diana mourned was the childhood she could have shared with a woman she barely knew and she thought how cruel it was of her. How cruel that she mourned for her mother as one mourns a distant relative, with a temporary sadness that disappears in a week or two, and how the news of her death brought her no surprise.

"What do I do now?", she replied uncertainly, her voice cracking only slightly. A new fear was settling in. She was an underage wizard with no legal guardian, no home and with the building anxiety that she would have to leave Hogwarts and the only family she had ever known.

"The Ministry are invested in conducting a full-scale investigation with the utmost effectiveness", Dumbledore began slowly. "So naturally, they are entirely useless and any action is yet to be taken. There is no reason for this to affect your place here, Miss Trivinere. Hogwarts will continue to be your home for as long as you require it, and no earlier". He folded his elegant hands in front of him, effectively closing the matter with such conviction she let out a relieved sigh.

"Now, I shall be sending owls in order to procure you a summer residence. In failing this, you will stay with a ministry-appointed guardian, which of course is a last resort", the headmaster paused as he caught a glimpse of the young girl's wobbling chin and once more he reached across to rest his hand over her own. "Diana, I do not pretend to never have experienced tragedy or failure, however I have always been certain of one thing. Hope is the strongest factor of the human disposition, garnering in the most vulnerable part of an individual's soul even in the face of great loss. It is important to remember that without the deepest night we would never see the sun rise".

His words were intended to comfort her, but she wondered just how long this night would last. At best she had just lost the opportunity to build a relationship with her mother but at worst she had lost not only that, but her home, friends and freedom as the threat of living with some straight-laced ministry stranger loomed over head. Neither option brought her any joy. Again, she merely nodded her head and offered a small thank you to her headmaster's efforts. He relayed to her the formalities: she was excused from all lessons until she deemed herself ready to return, was to ask immediately for any assistance if in need of anything, no matter how trivial, and was required to report to Professor McGonagall's office every Thursday afternoon. She was sure he would have offered her leave to return home if she had somewhere to go.

As she rose to leave, Dumbledore's calming voice called out to her, "Oh Diana". She turned back to face him. "Submerged in these dark times as we are, I can not stress the importance for constant vigilance. Foul-play has not yet been ruled out of your mother's case, indeed it is unlikely to be, and I dearly hope no more is afoot. Strange things happen in such bleak days and I wonder…do you have anything to tell me?". His voice was not accusatory or probing, but attentive and curious. One white eyebrow was raised slightly and a wrinkled hand was curled into his beard.

A thousand things flew through her mind. The mounting tension with the Slytherins, the horse, her reoccurring dreams, accumulating bruises, the veritaserum. All these odd little things that were building on top of each other, on top of her and everyone one of her friends like little panes of glass, caging them in. Even one would be a weight lifted from her chest. Instead she shook her head, aware of her problems waiting for her outside Dumbledore's office, "No sir, nothing".

/||\\\\\\\\\

She was walking back to the common room. By now, night had covered the castle grounds and was beginning to encroach on the hallways as paintings began settling down and others rushed about to get to bed. The hallways leading to her common room were empty so she decided to take her time getting there, she wouldn't get in trouble for loitering about after hours anyway. Not that she would have been distracted by anyone even if there were some about, Diana was far too busy floating about in a daze. Despite her mother's faults, her death was a tough pill to swallow.

Camilla had been beautiful in her youth, Diana could tell that much, but by the last time she had seen her the majority of it had faded. It could have been the insomnia or unhealthy lifestyle but undoubtedly the rumour that Camilla's father was also her first cousin had something to do with it. The last actual conversation they had had together was when she was young, they had talked about Jasper, trivial things and it was the closest semblance she had to having a loving parent in her mind. It seemed like overnight Camilla started to refuse to leave the house and the talking had been replaced by incoherent babbling and it slowly ate up every memory Diana had. Soon after she had been moved out and she saw her mother only to make sure she had eaten something and braid her hair the way she liked, all the while contemplating how it would be easier having a father. That was another issue all together. She had, in effect, abandoned her mother and it was something she was sure she couldn't forgive herself for.

If she hadn't been so wrapped up in herself she probably would have noticed the shadow following her down the corridor at a distance, dancing behind her in the darkness. It followed her until she reached the portrait hole, two greedy eyes taking in her appearance and movements. A little giggle filled the hallway for a split second before its owner disappeared back down the way it came, leaving greasy little finger prints behind it.

**AN: Sorry about the first ****update! It's an annoying little accident that keeps happening but should be all cleared up now! As always all disclaimers apply and please, if you like the story and want more, show me some love and review!**


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